OTHER NEWS - April 26, 1996

PepsiCo to Invest $550 Million in Russia: The Pruchase, N.Y.-based company and its bottlers will make the investment in the next five years to increase soft-drink production in Russia and beat back a resurgent Coca-Cola Co. The maker of Pepsi and Mountain Dew sodas and Frito-Lay snacks said the biggest consumer products investment in Russia would include 11 new bottling plants, 30 production lines, 50 warehouses, 450 trucks and thousands of refrigerated display cases. PepsiCo Inc. has long dominated the Russian market, but was hobbled by outmoded equipment and bureaucratic management in the old Soviet Union. Rival Coca-Cola Co. seized the initiative, announcing in December that it and its bottlers would spend $500 million through 1997.