Pepsi Acquiring BE & Cherry in a $705 Million Deal

New York based snack and beverage multinational PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) will be acquiring China based online snack seller BE & Cherry in an agreed deal worth $705 million. Both companies made this announcement in a joint press statement held on Sunday after they reportedly reached an agreement.

Pepsi will be purchasing BE $ Cherry from its current owner Haoxiangni Health Food Co Ltd (002582)– a Chinese company which produces a berry used to cure cough known as jujube.

On the other side of the deal, Hangzhou based Haoxiangni said it resolved to sell BE & Cherry since it wants to fully focus on jujube business. The company also said this acquisition deal is subject to shareholder’s input, compulsory conditions and various approvals.

During the statement CEO of PepsiCo China, Ram Krishnan said this deal would greatly help Pepsi in its quest to become the leading consumer focusing on food and beverages multinational in China.

“Be & Cheery adds direct-to-consumer capability, positioning us to capitalize on continued growth in e-commerce, and a local brand that is able to stretch across a broad portfolio of products, through both online and offline channels. We also expect to leverage Be & Cheery’s innovation and consumer insights capabilities to drive innovation in other key PepsiCo growth markets,” said Krishnan.