Cola Co. said Thursday that it is buying a 16.7 percent stake in Monster Beverage Corp and will have two directors on Monster's board as the beverage company seeks to expand into faster-growing categories like energy drinks. Under the agreement, Coke will make a cash payment of $2.15 billion and transfer ownership of its worldwide energy business including NOS, Full Throttle and Burn, to Monster. Monster will issue to Coke shares of common stock, and transfer its non-energy business, which includes Hansen's Natural Sodas and Peace Tea, to Coke. Coke will become Monster's preferred distribution partner globally, while Monster will become Coke's exclusive energy drinks partner.The transaction is expected to close late in 2014 or early in 2015."Our equity investment in Monster is a capital-efficient way to bolster our participation in the fast-growing and attractive global energy drinks category," said Coke Chief Executive Officer Muhtar Kent.
Monster Beverage Corporation is a holding company. Shares of MNST traded higher by 0.7% or $0.5/share to $71.65. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $51.15 and as high as $75.63. On average, 1387680 shares of MNST exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 1213298.
Source
