Coca-Cola Hellenic leaves Greece

Greece's biggest company, Coca-Cola Hellenic, is pulling out of the near-bankrupt country and seeking refuge by listing on the London stock exchange.

The €5.7bn company, which bottles Coke in 28 countries from Russia to Nigeria, said it would move its headquarters to Switzerland and hopes to list its shares on the FTSE 100 in London.

Coca-Cola Hellenic, which makes up a fifth of the Athens stock market, said it was ditching Greece after credit rating agencies downgraded the company's rating following the country's downgrade deeper into “junk” status. The firm, which is 23%-owned by Coca-Cola, hopes switching to London will rid it of the “Greek discount”, which has depressed the shares because many international investors are afraid of putting money into the debt-ridden country.

Dimitris Lois, the chief executive, said listing in London would “give us greater recognition among international investors, will increase the liquidity of our stock and improve our access to the international equity and debt markets.”   (Guardian, Világgazdaság Online)