PepsiCo, which has recently bought 76.98% of Russian dairy and juice maker Wimm-Bill-Dann (WBD) will receive a 31.37 billion ruble ($1.06 billion) loan from WBD to purchase the remaining shares held by minority shareholders, Vedomosti business daily reported on Tuesday.
In December 2010, PepsiCo signed an agreement to buy WBD for $5.8 billion, in which the company purchased a 42.37% stake from WBD's management, 23.52% from subsidiaries, and 11% in the market.
Vedomosti said PepsiCo planned to announce the purchase of WBD's remaining shares by March 11, 2011. The offer will expire in 70 days. The price will amount to $33 per American Depositary Receipt or $132 per share, which is equal to the agreed price.
WBD currently has about 1,500 minority shareholders, including investment funds and individuals, the paper quoted Renaissance Capital analyst Natalya Zagvozdina as saying.
Last week, subsidiaries of PepsiCo and WBD signed a credit agreement, under which PepsiCo Russia (Bermuda) Limited will get a three-year 31.37 billion ruble loan at 9.95% from WBD Finance Cyprus to complete the merger, the paper quoted a WBD statement, adding that PepsiCo had declined to comment.
Bank of Moscow analyst Yegor Fyodorov told the paper the loan deal was very advantageous for WBD because the loan interest rate was very high compared to WBD's ruble bond yield of 7.2-7.4% and PepsiCo's three-year Eurobond yield of 1.5%.
MOSCOW, February 8 (RIA Novosti)
