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Coca-Cola, Nestle Narrow Partnership (KO)

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Coca-Cola CompanyCoca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) and Nestle S.A. today announced that they reached an agreement to focus the geographic focus of their ready-to-drink tea joint venture, Beverage Partners Worldwide (BPW) on Europe and Canada.

In Taiwan and Hong Kong, Coke will enter into a license agreement with Nestle for the NESTEA brand. The two companies said that in all other territories, the joint venture will be phased out by the end of this year, subject to any regulatory approval. Additionally, the NESTEA license granted by Nestle to Coke in the U.S. will expire at the end of this year.


BPW is a 50-50 joint venture between Coke and Nestle, focusing on the ready-to-drink category. The joint venture was formed in 2001, following a period of 10 years during which Nestle and Coca-Cola cooperated in a joint venture called Coca-Cola and Nestle Refreshments.

Over the past 10 years, the joint venture between Coke and Nestle has delivered consistent growth and has expanded the NESTEA brand across Europe, Canada and other markets. Coke and Nestle believe a concentrated focus on Europe and Canada will accelerate the growth and bolster the market presence of BPW where the joint venture is most effective.

Coca-Cola shares are marginally lower in trading today. At last check, the stock was down 0.65% to $68.92 on volume of 4.12 million. Coca-Cola shares fell to an intra-day low of $68.62 today.

In the last one year, Coca-Cola shares gained 9.41%, compared with a gain of 0.50% for the S&P 500.

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edliston
Post Written By: Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.


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Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing.

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