Coca-Cola has purchased a 40% interest in Honest Tea, Inc., maker of certified organic beverages, including the best-selling Honest Tea. Coca-Cola may elect to buy, and the remaining Honest Tea
shareholders may elect to sell to Coca-Cola, the outstanding interest not currently owned by Coca-Cola in the future. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed.
John
Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest, sees the move as a continuation on the part of Coca-Cola to "ramp up its activity and interest in the non-carbonated part of the industry. It
follows on the heels of its acquisition last year of Fuse and Glaceau. Now, Coke needs to strengthen its tea portfolio."
Coke sells Nestea under a license agreement and owns the Gold Peak Tea
brand.
--Nina M. Lentini
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