PepsiCo to Acquire WBD, Become Russia’s Largest Food and Bev Business

At the price of $3.8 billion, PepsiCo Inc. (Purchase, NY) is about to acquire 66% of Wimm-Bill-Dann (WBD; Moscow), a Russian leader in food and beverage categories.

In acquiring WBD, PepsiCo says that it will become the largest food and beverage business in Russia. WBD’s specializes in beverage and dairy brands, ranging from J7 fruit juice to Agusha dairy baby food.

“[Acquiring WBD] gives us clear leadership in the food-and-beverage industry in Russia, a fast-growing, strategically important market offering abundant opportunity,” said Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo chairman and CEO. “At the same time, [WBD’s] strong, value-added dairy business immediately advances our global nutrition strategy to provide consumers around the world nutritious foods and beverages that are accessible, affordable and advantaged by science.  Dairy has a huge, untapped potential to bridge snacks and beverages.  We see the emerging opportunity to 'snackify' beverages and 'drinkify' snacks as the next frontier in food and beverage convenience."

For more information on the acquisition, see PepsiCo’s news release.