PepsiCo and Suntory Agree to Form Strategic Beverage Alliance in Vietnam

PURCHASE, N.Y. and OSAKA, Japan, Oct. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE: PEP), one of the world's largest food and beverage companies, and Suntory Holdings Limited (Suntory), a global beverage and wellness company based in Japan, today announced an agreement to form a strategic alliance in Vietnam.

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Under the terms of the agreement, Suntory will acquire a 51 percent stake in PepsiCo's Vietnam beverage business, while PepsiCo will be a 49 percent shareholder. Suntory and PepsiCo will hold key roles in the management team of the new joint venture, which will serve as the bottler for both companies in Vietnam.

The new alliance is expected to build on PepsiCo's existing position in Vietnam and to create new growth opportunities for PepsiCo and Suntory in the market. PepsiCo is one of the leading players in Vietnam's liquid refreshment beverage space, and the alliance is designed to combine the capabilities of both companies in ways that are mutually beneficial to their businesses, customers and consumers.

PepsiCo will retain marketing and innovation responsibilities for its portfolio of iconic beverage brands in Vietnam, which include Pepsi-Cola, 7-UP, Sting, Mirinda, Tropicana Twister, Lipton and Aquafina. Suntory brings to the strategic alliance strong brands and a long history of successfully developing beverages for the Asia market.

PepsiCo and Suntory have an established record of successfully working together in other beverage markets, including the United States, Japan and New Zealand. 

Henry Park, CEO of Suntory Beverage & Food Asia Pte. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Suntory Holdings Limited, said: "Suntory has been actively expanding its business foundation to consolidate its position in growing South-East Asian markets. This alliance is one of our strategic initiatives to pursue further growth in the region. Suntory is committed to the Vietnam business together with PepsiCo, our partner of more than 30 years, which has already established a leading position in Vietnam."

Umran Beba, President, PepsiCo Asia Pacific said: "Vietnam is a highly attractive growth market where PepsiCo is well positioned in the food and beverage marketplace. We're focused on expanding our food and beverage business in Vietnam through continued investment across our portfolio, and our beverage alliance with Suntory is an important part of our strategy to position PepsiCo for sustainable long-term growth in the market. Suntory is a world-class company and proven PepsiCo partner, and we believe their expertise and capabilities will drive the continued success of our Vietnam beverage business." 

Since entering the market in 1994, PepsiCo has undertaken an investment program of more than $500 million and now has five beverage manufacturing plants in Vietnam, a high priority market in PepsiCo's aggressive emerging and developing markets growth plans. PepsiCo nearly tripled its business in emerging and developing markets from $8 billion in annual revenue in 2006 to $22 billion in 2011.

Suntory has accelerated its global strategy and expanded its beverage business in Southeast Asia following the establishment of Suntory Beverage & Food Asia Pte. Ltd. in Singapore.  Expansion into Vietnam is a key part of Suntory's long-range plans.

PepsiCo will continue to independently operate its foods business in Vietnam.  PepsiCo enjoys success in Vietnam's snacks category with its Poca brand, and intends to continue to invest in agriculture, innovation and distribution to grow its foods business across the country.

This transaction is subject to the completion of legal processes.

About Suntory

Suntory Group was founded in 1899 and has become a multi-national major beverage company with a broad range of business including wellness, food, restaurants and flowers. In 2011, Suntory's consolidated sales were more than $23 billion.  The Suntory group has approximately 200 group companies, with 28,532 employees across Japan, the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific.  Suntory Group's corporate philosophy is "In Harmony with People and Nature." Suntory Group promotes corporate activities that deliver the highest quality products and services to its customers, and contributes to the fruitful development of culture and lifestyles as well as to the achievement of a global sustainable environment. We will always continue to pursue these goals across the globe. For more information please visit www.suntory.com

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo is a global food and beverage leader with net revenues of more than $65 billion and a product portfolio that includes 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in annual retail sales. Our main businesses – Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay and Pepsi-Cola – make hundreds of enjoyable foods and beverages that are loved throughout the world. PepsiCo's people are united by our unique commitment to sustainable growth by investing in a healthier future for people and our planet, which we believe also means a more successful future for PepsiCo. We call this commitment Performance with Purpose: PepsiCo's promise to provide a wide range of foods and beverages for local tastes; to find innovative ways to minimize our impact on the environment by conserving energy and water and reducing packaging volume; to provide a great workplace for our associates; and to respect, support and invest in the local communities where we operate. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com. 

PepsiCo Cautionary Statement

Statements in this communication that are "forward-looking statements" are based on currently available information, operating plans and projections about future events and trends. Terminology such as "believe," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "project," "anticipate," "will" or similar statements or variations of such terms are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such terms. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted in such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: changes in demand for PepsiCo's products, as a result of changes in consumer preferences and tastes or otherwise; PepsiCo's ability to compete effectively; unfavorable economic conditions in the countries in which PepsiCo operates; damage to PepsiCo's reputation; PepsiCo's ability to grow its business in developing and emerging markets or unstable political conditions, civil unrest or other developments and risks in the countries where PepsiCo operates; trade consolidation or the loss of any key customer; changes in the legal and regulatory environment; PepsiCo's ability to build and sustain proper information technology infrastructure, successfully implement its ongoing business transformation initiative or outsource certain functions effectively; fluctuations in foreign exchange rates; increased costs, disruption of supply or shortages of raw materials and other supplies; disruption of PepsiCo's supply chain; climate change, or legal, regulatory or market measures to address climate change; PepsiCo's ability to hire or retain key employees or a highly skilled and diverse workforce; failure to successfully renew collective bargaining agreements or strikes or work stoppages; failure to successfully complete or integrate acquisitions and joint ventures into PepsiCo's existing operations; failure to successfully implement PepsiCo's global operating model; failure to realize anticipated benefits from PepsiCo's productivity plan; any downgrade of PepsiCo's credit ratings; and any infringement of or challenge to PepsiCo's intellectual property rights.  

For additional information on these and other factors that could cause PepsiCo's actual results to materially differ from those set forth herein, please see PepsiCo's filings with the SEC, including its most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. PepsiCo undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE PepsiCo, Inc.