PepsiCo and Quaker finally merged
Quaker Oats Company, creating a $25 bn food and beverage company.
On August 2, PepsiCo announced it has completed its merger with The Quaker Oats Company, creating a $25 bn food and beverage company. "This is an historic day for PepsiCo," said Steve Reinemund, PepsiCo chairman and chief executive officer. "Since this merger was announced in December, we have been making plans to build a truly outstanding company that is perfectly positioned to build on the many opportunities we see for convenient foods and beverages. We are now well prepared to make that dream a reality." With the completed merger, PepsiCo generates $25 bn in pro-forma annual revenues and owns 13 consumer brands that each post more than $1 bn in annual retail sales. These brands now include Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi, Lay's potato chips, Gatorade, Tropicana Pure Premium, Doritos, Quaker, Ruffles, 7UP (outside the U.S.), Cheetos, Mirinda and Lipton Teas. "Quaker brings to PepsiCo a very wide range of benefits that touch virtually every one of our businesses," Reinemund said. "With Gatorade, we will add the leading isotonic brand to our beverage portfolio. Quaker's highly-efficient broker-warehouse system will help Tropicana accelerate national distribution and growth of its shelf stable products. The Quaker brand and the company's line of wholesome snacks give us an ideal way to expand beyond salty snacks. And bringing our companies together will create literally hundreds of millions of dollars in purchasing, manufacturing and distribution synergies." Under terms of the merger, Quaker shareholders will receive 2.3 shares of PepsiCo common stock in exchange for each share of Quaker common stock they own. Based on the number of Quaker shares outstanding yesterday, PepsiCo expects to issue approximately 306 million additional shares of its common stock to Quaker shareholders. PepsiCo shareholders will continue to own their existing shares of PepsiCo common stock. Shares of the combined company, which is known as PepsiCo, will be traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the Chicago Stock Exchange under the symbol PEP.
