PARIS, Oct. 24, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- France's Groupe DANONE (NYSE:DA) announced today that it intends to make a public offer to acquire 100% of the capital of Frucor Beverages Group Limited, a market leader in the fast growing energy drink segment in Asia Pacific.
Frucor's net sales for year ended June 2001 amounted to Euros 105 million, of which 73% were in New Zealand, 20% in Australia and 7% in the rest of the world.
Frucor, the second largest cold beverages company in New Zealand, is the market leader in the Fruit Juice & Drink segment (with "Fresh up" and "Just Juice"), in the Energy Drink segment (with "V" brand and " G-Force ") and is ranked second in the bottled water category (with "Mizone" and "H2Go"). In Australia, Frucor leads the Energy Drink segment with its "V" brand.
The company is well known in the Asia Pacific region for its innovation and has generated significant sales growth over the last 3 years, with a CAGR in excess of 40%.
Frucor was listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange in June 2000.
The public offer will be made through Groupe DANONE's Singapore based Asia Pacific holding Company, Danone Asia Pte Ltd.
Danone Asia Pte Ltd. will make a full offer for all the voting securities in Frucor. The offer will be made at NZ$ 2.35 cash for each ordinary share, leading to a total price of Euros 136 million for 100% of Frucor.
The offer is subject to Danone Asia acquiring more than 90% of Frucor shares.