Analysts believe The Coca-Cola Co will ultimately want to buy Innocent Drinks outright, after raising its stake in the smoothie maker.
Coca-Cola announced late last week (9 April) that it has upped its stake in smoothie maker Innocent Drinks to 58%.
The deal involves Coca-Cola buying the shares of Innocent’s two original start-up investors, who want to retire. In addition, each of the founders of Innocent will relinquish a minority of their own shares, but retain the majority of them.
The founders will continue to lead the business as before, Innocent said, and will still donate 10% of profits to charity.