Danone bids for Asia Pacific energy drinks

French food company Groupe DANONE announced on Wednesday that it intends to make a public offer to acquire 100 per cent of the capital of Frucor Beverages Group Limited, a market leader in the fast growing energy drink segment in Asia Pacific. Frucor's net sales for year ended June 2001 amounted to Euros 105 million, of which 73 per cent in New Zealand, 20 per cent in Australia and 7 per cent in the rest of the world. Frucor, the second largest cold beverages company in New Zealand, is market leader in the Fruit Juice & Drink segment (with "Fresh up" and "Just Juice"), in the Energy Drink segment (with "V" brand and " G-Force ") and is ranked second in the bottled water category (with "Mizone" and "H2Go"). In Australia, Frucor leads the Energy Drink segment with its "V" brand. Frucor was listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange in June 2000. The public offer will be made through Groupe DANONE's Singapore based Asia Pacific holding company, Danone Asia Pte Ltd. The offer will be made at NZ$ 2.35 cash for each ordinary share, leading to a total price of Euros 136 million for 100 per cent of Frucor. The offer is subject to Danone Asia acquiring more than 90 per cent of Frucor shares.