Deal: Herbert Smith Freehills is advising Coca-Cola Amatil Limited (Amatil) on all aspects of its proposed acquisition by Coca-Cola European Partners plc (CCEP), under which all of the issued shares held by independent shareholders of Amatil are proposed to be acquired by CCEP pursuant to a scheme of arrangement. The transaction implies a valuation for Amatil of approximately $10.9 billion (EV).

Value: $10.9 billion.

Area: M&A.

Key players: The Herbert Smith Freehills team is being led by partner Tony Damian and senior associate Amelia Morgan. The team also includes partner Andrew Rich and solicitor Jennifer Xue.

The Herbert Smith Freehills team is working closely with Amatil on the proposed transaction, including with Betty Ivanoff (group director, legal & corporate Affairs) and Richard Conway (deputy group general counsel and group company secretary).

UBS is acting as financial adviser to Amatil.

Deal significance: The European arm of Coca-Cola, the worldUBS s largest independent soft-drink bottler, is in talks to acquire Australia’s Coca-Cola Amatil to expand in Asia Pacific, according to people familiar with the matter.

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Amatil has entered into a scheme implementation deed with CCEP for the acquisition of all of the shares held by independent shareholders of Amatil pursuant to a scheme of arrangement. 

CCEP has also entered into a separate agreement to acquire the Amatil shares held indirectly by The Coca-Cola Company, which is conditional upon the implementation of the scheme. It is expected that the scheme will be voted on at a meeting of Amatil’s independent shareholders in early 2021.

“We are delighted to be advising Amatil on this landmark transaction,” Mr Damian said.

“This deal is the largest announced Australian public M&A deal of 2020 and demonstrates the ongoing strength of M&A activity in Australia despite the COVID-19 pandemic.”