Coca-Cola to invest $1bn to expand operations in Mexico

Global soft drinks giant Coca-Cola plans to invest $1bn in Mexico this year, as a part of a five year $5bn investment plan.

According to the company, the new investment will be used in the following areas; infrastructure, technology, equipment, environmental initiatives, social programmes, marketing, and training, with a special focus on safeguarding employment.

Coca-Cola, which employs 93,000 people directly and 800,000 indirectly in Mexico, plans to create an additional 10,000 jobs through the long-term plan.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon said the new investment will boost the country’s economy, which has been hit by deep recession due to lower imports by the US, a decline in remittances from Mexicans living abroad, and a drop in tourism as a result of swine flu.

The company made the latest announcement during the opening of a new juice plant in Tepozotlan, Mexico.

The Tepozotlan plant, which was built with an investment of $200m, has 20 bottling lines and an annual production capacity of 140 million beverage crates. The new plant is expected to create 1,500 jobs.

Over the past six years, Coca-Cola has doubled its product range in the country, and now offers 60 brands and 400 products.

In December, Coca-Cola FEMSA, the independent bottler of Coca-Cola products in Latin America, acquired the bottling operations of Grupo CIMSA, a Mexican corporation that operates two beverage business units. The aggregate enterprise value of this transaction was MXN11bn ($790m).

Coca-Cola, which manufactures, distributes, and markets non-alcoholic beverages worldwide, announced several investments globally in recent months.

In November, it announced its plan to invest $2bn in India over the next five years, and in December the company entered into a $980m agreement to acquire a 50% stake in the beverage business of Saudi Arabia-based Aujan Industries.

 

Image: Coca-Cola plans to invest $1bn in Mexico to improve infrastructure, technology, equipment, environmental initiatives and social programmes, with a special focus on safeguarding employment. Photo: Coca-Cola.