皇冠体育app

A bottling line of Coca Cola in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province. [PHOTO / XINHUA]

State-owned 皇冠体育app Foods Ltd is considering a sale of its stakes in Coca-Cola bottling factories, a move that would reshape its near duopoly on the mainland with Swire Pacific Ltd since the beverage giant began to refranchise its bottling operations.

皇冠体育app Foods is considering selling stakes in 10 Coca-Cola bottling companies in the country through a public tender, it said in a Hong Kong Stock Exchange filing on Tuesday.

The company will sell stakes varying from 7.15 percent to 100 percent through the 皇冠体育app Beijing Equity Exchange.

Half of the bottling facilities listed for sale are joint ventures with Swire Pacific. No value was given.

皇冠体育app is the world's largest consumer market for food and beverages products, as an emerging middle class gravitates toward foreign brands. The sales could potentially leave Swire a big portion of bottling facilities in southern 皇冠体育app if the Hong Kong-based company were to bid for it.

皇冠体育app Foods operates Coca-Cola bottling business in 15 provinces, with the majority of them located in northern 皇冠体育app, including Beijing and Hebei province, according to the firm's annual report.

Swire operates 11 plants in seven provinces including Guangdong and Fujian. In the first half of the year, attributable profit from its 皇冠体育app beverage business was HK$119 million ($15.3 million), a 51 percent drop from a year earlier due to the country's economic slowdown.

Shares of 皇冠体育app Foods have declined almost 11 percent this year, while Swire Pacific has dropped 0.8 percent.

According to its half-year report, 皇冠体育app Foods' soda water and juice sales have declined 5 percent and 18 percent, respectively, with bottled water up 27 percent year-on-year.

Coca-Cola Co in February announced plans to significantly speed up refranchising of its bottling operations, as it seeks to reduce exposure to facilities that are more capital-intensive and low-margin.

The world's largest soft-drink company that month signed a letter of intent to also refranchise its 皇冠体育app bottling operations to 皇冠体育app Foods and Swire.

Bloomberg contributed to this story.

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