PepsiCo, Coca-Cola Have Large Stakes in Russia, Ukraine

By Mike Esterl 

PepsiCo Inc. has billions of dollars at stake in Russia, its second-largest market by revenue after the U.S. The Purchase, N.Y.-based snack and beverage giant would have a difficult time picking up and leaving: It had $7.89 billion in "long-lived" assets including property, plants and equipment in Russia alone last year, or 15% of its global assets, according to a regulatory filing by the company.

The company doesn't disclose its revenue in Ukraine but has subsidiaries in the country and teamed up with a bottling partner in 2007 to acquire Sandora LLC. PepsiCo said at the time that Sandora was Ukraine's largest juice company with a market share of about 50% and more than 3,500 employees.

PepsiCo declined to comment Monday on the evolving crisis in Russia and Ukraine.

The company has a long history in the region: Its flagship cola became the first Western branded consumer product bottled in the Soviet Union in 1974 after Premier Nikita Khruschev famously sampled it at a Moscow exhibition 15 years earlier.

The maker of Lay's potato chips, Gatorade sports drinks and Quaker oatmeal has dramatically increased its exposure to the region in recent years through acquisitions and last year booked $4.91 billion in Russian sales, or 7% of its global revenue. It shelled out roughly $5.2 billion to buy Russian dairy products and fruit-juice maker OAO Wimm-Bill-Dann in 2011, two years after acquiring juice company OAO Lebedyansky for $2 billion.

Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co., the world's largest beverage company by revenue, is less exposed to Russia than PepsiCo. The maker of Coke, Minute Maid juice and Sprite doesn't disclose its Russia revenue but derived only about 1.6% of its volumes from the country in 2012.

Still, Russia has been an important focus for Coke amid slowing sales in many more developed markets. The company spent heavily in recent months marketing its drinks as a sponsor of this February's Winter Olympics in Sochi--including accompanying the Olympic torch relay on its 123-day, 35,000-mile journey across the country. Coke's Russian beverage volumes grew 3% last year, including an 11% jump for its Coca-Cola brand and 7% and 24% increases in its local Dubriy and Rich juice brands, respectively.

Coke also owns a 23% equity stake in Coca-Cola Hellenic, a large multi-country bottler with operations in Russia and Ukraine, including two plants in the latter country.

Coke declined to comment Monday on how the regional turmoil could affect its business and said it didn't have a position on the unfolding situation.

"Our business continues as normal. We are monitoring the situation in Ukraine very closely," Coke added in a written statement in response to questions.

Write to Mike Esterl at [e-mail]

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