PLANO, Texas -- Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages (CSAB) said it has acquired Southeast-Atlantic Beverage Corp. (SEABEV), an independent bottling and distribution company based in Jacksonville, Fla.
SEABEV distributes much of CSAB's soft drink and premium beverage portfolio, as well as several licensed brands, throughout most of Florida and Northern Georgia. Founded in 1939, it is the second-largest independent bottling company in the United States, with 2006 revenues of $172 million and nearly 900 employees. The company operates two manufacturing [image-nocss] facilities and 16 warehouses and distribution centers from Miami to Atlanta.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Bringing SEABEV into the CSAB family is an important milestone in our continuing efforts to strengthen the route to market for our brands, which is a core strategy for our business, said Gil Cassagne, president and CEO of CSAB. By consolidating the independent bottling system, we can protect the equity of [our] brands and deliver them more efficiently into the hands of our consumers. Having our bottling and concentrate operations under one roof also means greater alignment across our business, which allows us to respond to the changing demands of the marketplace and serve our customers more effectively.
SEABEV is the sixth bottling and/or distribution business to be integrated into the Cadbury Schweppes Bottling Group (CSBG), a division of CSAB formed in April 2006 with the acquisition of Dr Pepper/Seven Up Bottling Group. Other major bottler acquisitions by CSAB since last year include All-American Bottling Corp., which serves a large area of the Midwest and Mountain States; Seven-Up Bottling Co. of San Francisco, serving Northern California; Hattiesburg (Miss.) Beverage Co.; and the Mississippi operations of Dr Pepper Bottling Co. of Paragould Inc. The company has also taken over the distribution for various brands in its portfolio in portions of New Jersey, New York, Louisiana, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.
The integration of SEABEV gives CSAB direct access to more than 20 million new consumers in Florida and Northern Georgia, as well as a new manufacturing capability in the southeastern United States. CSAB now has 26 manufacturing and bottling facilities in North America and more than 250 warehouse and distribution points serving more than 230 million U.S. consumers in 34 states. In addition, the company now controls the manufacture and distribution of nearly half its annual volume.
The coast-to-coast footprint of our Bottling Group operations gives us the opportunity to produce our brands closer to the customer, which drives costs out of our supply chain and more efficiently gets our products to market, said Larry Young, president and COO for CSBG.
Based in Plano, Texas, CSAB is a fully integrated refreshment beverage business and a leader in flavored soft drinks, premium teas, juices and mixers. The company's stable of products includes leading brands in numerous flavor categories, including pepper, root beer, orange soda, lemon-lime, tonic, ginger-ale, ready-to-drink tea and apple juice. With nearly $6 billion in sales and nearly 19,000 colleagues, CSAB is the largest operating division of Cadbury Schweppes plc, a $13 billion global confectionery and beverage company headquartered in London. CSAB's brand portfolio includes Dr Pepper, 7UP, Snapple, Mott's Apple Juice, A&W Root Beer, Sunkist Soda, Canada Dry, Hawaiian Punch, Schweppes, Accelerade, RC Cola, Diet Rite, Penafiel, Squirt, Clamato, Mr & Mrs T Mixers, Holland House Mixers, Rose's, Yoo-hoo, Orangina, IBC, Stewart's, Mistic, Nantucket Nectars and other brands.
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