Pepsi and Vertical Integration

Here is a great example for the revision notes on business growth. PepsiCo which also includes the Tropicana and Gatorade brands within its business has made a $6bn cash and stock offer for the Pepsi Bottling Group and PepsiAmericas. Pepsi already owns sizeable equity stakes in both of these huge bottling businesses - but it has taken advantage of the low stock market and a handy cash mountain to make a takeover bid. It is a classic case of backward vertical integration and a report in the Financial Times says that PepsiCo expects the integration to cut costs by about $200m annually. Britvic is PepsiCo’s bottler in the UK. Keep an eye out for Britvic making a move on smaller bottling companies elsewhere in the European Union.