P.M. BRIEFING : Cadbury to Buy Procter Crush Unit
<i> From Times wire services</i>
LONDON —
Cadbury Schweppes PLC, the British candy and beverage giant, said today that it agreed to buy Procter and Gamble Co.’s Crush International unit for $220 million.
The cash acquisition would give Cadbury the Crush brands in North America, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. That unit, which includes the Crush soft drinks and Hires root beer labels, had sales of $71 million for the first half of this year.
Combining Crush brands with Cadbury’s existing drink businesses would give the company a 4.7% share of the U.S. soft-drink market, up from 3.6%, Cadbury said. Its share of the Canadian market will jump to 15.1% from 10.8%, it said.
