The announcement this week that Coca-Cola Femsa, the world’s largest public bottler of Coca-Cola by sales volume, had entered a 12-month exclusivity agreement with Atlanta-based The Coca-Cola Company to explore the possibility of buying its Philippines unit could be a pretty sweet deal.

For a start, it would continue the Mexican company’s recent acquisition spree. Last year, the company, which is 54 per cent owned by Monterrey-based Fomento Económico Mexicano (Femsa) and 32 per cent owned by The Coca-Cola Company, expanded rapidly at home, using 24.5bn pesos in new stock to snap up three local bottlers. Continue reading »