Say Pepsi, please. In Russian.
Somers-based Pepsi Bottling Group is teaming with parent company PepsiCo in Purchase to make a big splash in Russia.
PepsiCo and Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG) plan to invest $1 billion in business development in Russia within the next three years, Trading Markets.com reported July 16.
The effort is already under way.
PepsiCo and PBG have built a bottling factory near Moscow for $180 million that is now the largest in the global PepsiCo system. There was no report if the facility was de novo or a rehab.
The “Carbonates in Russia” report cited by Trading Markets analyzed the size and shape of the Russian soda pop market between 2005 and 2009.
In March, PepsiCo completed its purchase of Pepsi Bottling Group, now a wholly owned subsidiary. Prior to the union, PBG was the largest bottler of Pepsi drinks.
The historic nature of the deal has not been lost on Pepsi, which reports on its website:
“Russia and PepsiCo have a long, storied history dating back to 1959 when Nikita Khrushchev had his picture snapped enjoying a Pepsi during the American National Exhibition in Moscow under the watchful eye of then-U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon. The Exhibition provided an extraordinary six-week interlude to the Cold War and gave 3 million Soviets their first taste of American culture.”
