Coca-Cola to manage Evian water brand in U.S., Canada

ATLANTA - The Coca-Cola Co. will manage marketing, sales and distribution of Evian bottled water in the United States and Canada under an agreement with Groupe Danone, the Paris-based owner of the brand.

Financial terms of the agreement announced early Thursday were not disclosed.

Coca-Cola Enterprises and other independent bottlers of the Atlanta-based Coke currently distribute more than half of all Evian bottled water in North America.

Coca-Cola will honor all existing contracts with bottlers not affiliated with Coke that currently distribute Evian, the companies said.

``This agreement provides Evian with access to the marketing expertise of Coca-Cola in North America,'' Groupe Danone chairman and chief executive Franck Riboud said in a statement release.

He said the agreement would ``advance our goals for the brand by taking advantage of the experience and strength of Coca-Cola in brand-building and distribution of beverages.''

Riboud's counterpart at Coca-Cola, Doug Daft, said the deal ``over the long run, enhances our system's ability to realize more fully the great growth opportunity in the water category.''

While Coke's largest bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., already distributes Evian in 60 percent of the United States, an import deal gives Coke total control over U.S. distribution of Evian.

Coke, which entered the U.S. bottled-water market in 1999 with Dasani, a purified-water brand, is the No. 3 company in the $3.53 billion U.S. market, behind Nestle and Pepsi.

Danone, which owns the Evian, Dannon and Volvic water brands and the Waters of North America business, holds the No. 4 slot.