Coca-Cola completes purchase of Glaceau, maker of Vitaminwater, for $4.1B

<p>The Coca-Cola Co. said Thursday that it had completed its previously announced $4.1 billion purchase of Energy Brands Inc., known as Glaceau, the maker of Vitaminwater and other enhanced water brands.</p><p>Glaceau will operate as a separate business unit of Coca-Cola North America. The closing follows the expiration of a waiting period required by antitrust regulations of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and the satisfaction of other customary conditions, Coca-Cola said.</p><p>The purchase is Coke's largest acquisition ever, but executives believe the price tag for the rapidly growing Glaceau is worth it. It is nearly twice what Glaceau's estimated value was less than a year ago.</p><p>Carbonated beverage makers are trying to expand their product offerings to juice and other non-carbonated drinks to meet shifting consumer tastes.</p><p>Earlier Thursday, PepsiCo Inc., the nation's second biggest soft drink company after Coca-Cola, and an affiliated bottler announced they are paying $542 million for a majority stake in a Ukraine-based juice company, with plans to buy the rest of the company later this year.</p><p>PepsiCo and Minneapolis-based PepsiAmericas said they would buy an 80 percent stake in Sandora LLC, which they said was the leading juice maker in the former Soviet bloc country. The acquisition gives it a base in the growing Central and Eastern European market.</p>