PepsiCo sells interest in Serbian soft-drinks group Knjaz Miloš

Mattoni 1873, the Czech soft-drinks business, has bought sole control of Serbian peer Knjaz Miloš after acquiring PepsiCo’s stake in the business.

PepsiCo has sold its 46.43% interest in Knjaz Miloš to Mattoni 1873 in a deal valued at “almost” €90m ($96.2m), the Serbian business said in a statement.

Knjaz Miloš, based in the central Serbian town of Aranđelovac, distributes PepsiCo drinks in Serbia and Montenegro.

Mattoni 1873 and PepsiCo teamed up five years ago to buy Knjaz Miloš from private-equity firm Mid Europa Partners. The London-based buy-out house acquired Knjaz Miloš in 2015 as part of its acquisition of Serbian food-and-beverage business Danube Foods Group.

Alongside the distribution of PepsiCo brands including Pepsi, 7Up and Mirinda, Knjaz Miloš owns its namesake bottled-water brand, Tube soft drinks and Gusto fruit juices.

Mattoni 1873 operates in eight countries, running 11 production plants and employing 3,400 staff.

The company also distributes PepsiCo’s soft drinks in eight markets, including the Czech Republic, Austria, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro.

It owns mineral-water brands including Mattoni, Magnesia and Poděbradka.

Mattoni 1873 also distributes brands including Granini juices.

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