Yogurt company Chobani rejects purchase offer from PepsiCo

Greek yogurt manufacturer Chobani has rejected PepsiCo’s bid to purchase a majority stake.

In 2015, Chobani, which was established by Hamdi Ulukaya, appointed Goldman Sachs Group to look for a suitable partner who could invest in the company in exchange for a minority stake.

It intended to raise proceeds to bolster its production and distribution in other countries. The firm was looking for a strategic partnership so that it can work in categories such as dips.

Last year, it was approached by several investors, including PepsiCo.

Reuters reported the rejection of the offer was due to differences in opinion regarding the share in the yogurt company as Chobani intended to sell only a minority stake, while PepsiCo wanted a majority holding.

Chobani spokesman Michael Gonda was quoted by The Wall Street Journal saying: "We took our time with this process, conducted thorough due diligence and in the end, given our strong performance, we decided to fund our new growth initiatives ourselves, while keeping our independence, which is important to us."

For several years, PepsiCo was in the yogurt business through a partnership with Theo Müller Group, but this partnership ended in December due to poor sales.

Other companies such as Coca-Cola and organic food producer WhiteWave Foods were also interested in investing.