COCA-COLA yesterday bought the struggling US operations of its largest bottler for roughly $15bn (£9.75bn), including debt, in a deal that gives a London base for the European operations of the bottling operations, Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE).
Based in Uxbridge west London, where it employs 4,000 people, CCE may now be listed on the London Stock Exchange.
CCE’s European president Hubert Patricot said a European listing “clearly makes sense in the future”, adding that London would be the most probable venue.
CCE’s business generates operating revenues of $7.3bn (£6.5bn) and it employs more than 13,000 people in the UK, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway and Sweden.
