Pepsico may aquire Russian juice firm

Pepsico has agreed to buy top Russian juice maker Lebedyansky for $1.5 billion to $2 billion according to reports today.

 It was reported the deal would take place before the end of
the year, and that Pepsico would buy over 76 per cent of Lebedyansky, implying
a possible premium to its market capitalisation, which at Friday's closing
price was $1.95 billion for the whole company. The news sent shares in Lebedyansky up 7 per cent.
Pepsico controls around a fifth of the Russian soft drinks
market and around a third of potato chip sales, but it has just 2 per cent of
the Russian juice market through the Tropicana brand.
Pepsico also has no juice-producing assets in Russia, and
Lebedyansky, which controls over 30 per cent of the Russian juice market, is
seen as an attractive target for the beverage giant.