Reuters LONDON/TOKYO |Sep 9
Japan’s Suntory Beverage & Food Ltd is to buy GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s Lucozade and Ribena brands for 1.35 billion pounds ($2.1 billion) to help it expand into new markets.
The deal had been expected since people close to the process said last week Suntory – best known for beer and Yamazaki whisky – was in advanced talks on a purchase that would pre-empt an auction of the British drinks.
Japan’s second-largest drinks maker by sales after the local arm of Coca-Cola Co has plenty of cash after raising $4 billion in a stock market flotation in June. It was always seen as the most likely buyer for the brands after GSK announced plans for their disposal in April.
The energy and blackcurrant drinks are popular in Britain but from GSK’s point of view lack global reach, especially in the big emerging markets that are becoming the focus of the British drugmaker’s consumer health business.
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