Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service intends to approve PepsiCo's purchase of Wimm-Bill-Dann, one of the country's leading dairy producers, the service's head Igor Artemyev said on Monday.

"We are favorably disposed to the deal. There are no problems with it," he said.

In the wake of the deal, the service plans to issue an instruction to maintain competition on the domestic market. According to the watchdog's data, Wimm-Bill-Dann holds a 30% share of the Russian dairy market, just under the 35% permitted level of market monopolization.

At the same time, the company holds a 40-45% share of the beverage market, he said.

On December 2, PepsiCo signed an agreement to buy Wimm-Bill-Dann for $5.8 billion. Under the deal, PepsiCo will buy a 66% stake in Wimm-Bill-Dann for $3.8 billion, pending required government approval, and then will offer to buy remaining shares.

MOSCOW, December 27 (RIA Novosti)