ALL RIGHT!!!
They got their act back together. This is a very bullish move.
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Wednesday November 13 11:14 AM EST
Venezuela Polar signs deal with Pepsi PEP.N
CARACAS, Nov 13 (Reuter) - Powerful, privately-owned Venezuelan foods and beverage company Polar has signed a deal with U.S. soft-drinks giant Pepsi ( Pepsico Inc ) bottle and distribute Pepsi- cola in Venezuela from December, Polar said.
The agreement will be 70 percent controlled by Polar and 30 percent by Pepsi, Polar said in a press release.
"Polar and Pepsi will make a great team," said Pepsi president Craig Weatherup.
Distribution will be limited at first to central Venezuela, through Polar affiliate Sopresa which already counts on two bottling plants in the states of Aragua and Miranda.
It will subsequently spread over two years through the rest of the country as some $380 million in investments come on stream, said the release.
Pepsi dominated the Venezuelan soft-drinks market until mid- August when the country's leading bottler, Grupo Cisneros Embotelladoras de Venezuela, broke a franchise agreement with the company to enter a joint venture with Coca-Cola Co .
Since the switch, which left Pepsi without a local bottler, Pepsi's products have virtually disappeared from the local market which was previously one of its strongest in the world.
Of the new deal, Polar President Gustavo Gimenez Pocaterra said: "this is not simply a switch of bottlers, but rather an alliance between two prestigious and very solid companies."
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