AG Barr agrees to £1.4bn tie-up with rival Britvic
AG BARR, the Scottish Irn Bru-maker, and rival Britvic yesterday revealed the terms of an all-share merger that will create one of Europe’s largest soft drinks companies with more than £1.5bn of annual sales.
The new company will be called Barr Britvic Soft Drinks and will be run by AG Barr’s chief executive Roger White, while Britvic finance director John Gibney will take the role of finance director for the new company.
Paul Moody, who has led Britvic for eight years, said he will step down after the merger, which is due to be completed early next year.
The deal will see the Robinsons squash-maker owning a 63 per cent stake in the new firm while family-owned AG Barr will hold the remaining stake. Barr Britvic will be registered at AG Barr’s headquarters in Lanarkshire but run through Britvic’s offices in Hemel Hempstead.
The merger will amount to £40m of revenue and cost savings over the next three years, although this will come at the expense of between 315 to 500 jobs taken out of its 4,000 work force.