Slaughter and May, Hong Kong, is advising Swire Beverages Holdings Limited (“SBHL”), a subsidiary of Swire Pacific Limited, on its proposed purchase of the entire equity interests in six of the beverage preparation and packaging subsidiaries of Coca-Cola Bottlers Manufacturing Holdings Limited (“CCBMH”) in the Chinese Mainland (in Nanning, Hangzhou, Foshan, Wuhan, Dongguan and Suzhou) as part of the restructuring of CCBMH pursuant to a master agreement entered into on 15 July 2022.
Subsidiaries of SBHL, China Foods Limited (“China Foods”) and The Coca-Cola Company hold 41%, 21% and 38%, respectively, of the shares in CCBMH. CCBMH, through its subsidiaries in the Chinese Mainland, prepares and packages still beverages, including enhanced water, juice, tea, dairy drinks and coffee, which are then distributed by bottlers across the Chinese Mainland. Pursuant to the proposed restructuring of CCBMH contemplated in the master agreement, such beverage preparation and packaging operations will be transferred to subsidiaries of SBHL and China Foods, respectively.