P.M. BRIEFING : Pepsi Buys 70% of Cookie Firm
From Times Wire Services
NEW YORK —
PepsiCo Inc. said today it has bought more than 70% of Empresas Gamesa for about $300 million, giving the big U.S. beverage and snack foods firm a majority stake in Mexico’s largest cookie manufacturer.
The acquisition is PepsiCo’s second-largest international food acquisition. It ranks behind the 1989 purchase of two British snack chip makers, Smiths Crisps and Walkers Crisps, for $1.35 billion from the French company BSN.
The Mexican snack food subsidiary of PepsiCo, Sabritas SA de CV, made the acquisition by buying more than 70% of the outstanding stock of Empresas Gamesa, which is a holding company that owns 68% of Grupo Gamesa, Mexico’s major cookie company. The shares of Empresas Gamesa stock not bought by PepsiCo are publicly held.
