Greek Coke bottler planning to invest $120 mln in Russia
Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Co (CCHBC) will invest about $120 million (-90 million) to build a new plant in Russia, a CCHBC official said yesterday. «This investment demonstrates our strong commitment to Russia and our confidence in exploring future growth opportunities in the region,» CCHBC’s investor relations manager George Toulantas said. CCHBC, the world’s second-largest bottler of Coca-Cola drinks, will start building the facility in the next few months, with production planned to start in the first half of next year, he said. The plant, with an initial annual production capacity of 300 million liters, will have six lines that will produce carbonated soft drinks, sports and energy drinks and iced teas to cover the increased demand in Russia. «The increased capacity in carbonated soft drinks, ice teas and sports drinks is in response to Russia’s consumers’ desire for a wider choice of beverages,» Toulantas said. CCHBC, 24 percent-owned by the Coca-Cola Co, will increase the Russian plant’s capacity to about 500 million liters by 2015. The new plant will be CCHBC’s 14th plant in Russia. The country accounted for about 18 percent of the bottler’s total sales volume of 1.788 million unit cases last year. The new investment will be part of CCHBC’s -500 million plan to grow its business this year.
