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Coke seals Cadbury sale
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July 30, 1999: 2:51 p.m. ET
Deal's $705 million value is $1.1B and several countries short of original plan
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Cadbury Schweppes PLC officially transferred a majority of its non-U.S. and Continental European soft drink business to Coca-Cola Co. Friday in a deal that was more than $1 billion less than their original agreement.
Cadbury Schweppes officials confirmed they had received $705 million cash from Atlanta-based Coca-Cola in exchange for its Schweppes, Dr Pepper, Canada Dry and Crush brands in 155 countries. mostly outside the U.S. and Europe.
Company officials said they have postponed, for now, an agreement to sell the same brands in a number of countries included in the original deal -- including Austria, Canada, Mexico and New Zealand -- pending further regulatory review.
Meanwhile, Coca-Cola's brand acquisitions in Poland, Hungary, and the Czech and Slovak republics have been terminated and will remain under Cadbury Schweppes' European beverages division for "the foreseeable future" because of similar regulatory concerns.
"We have secured a premium price for a substantial number of our beverages businesses," Cadbury Schweppes CEO John Sunderland said. "We will retain robust and profitable beverages operations in the U.S.A. and Europe and simultaneously broaden our strategic options for the further development of the company."
Still, the deal's final price was less than half the $1.85 billion Coca-Cola originally agreed to pay for all of Cadbury Schweppes' soft drink brands outside the U.S., South Africa and France.
That deal's price tag was amended in May after several European countries threatened to block the transaction because it would hand Coca-Cola a dominant share of their soft drink market. Cadbury agreed to retain most of its Western European business and lowered the deal's value to $1.1 billion.
Cadbury Schweppes estimated it spent roughly $130 million in tax and expenses related to the transaction.
In conjunction with the announcement, Cadbury Schweppes South Africa was in talks to sell its carbonated soft drinks business in South Africa to Coca-Cola. Cadbury Schweppes owns a 55 percent stake in that company.
Coca-Cola's (KO) stock inched down 11/16 to 60-13/16 following the announcement. 
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