Athens, Greece - 2 January 2006 - Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company S.A. (Coca-Cola HBC, CCHBC) has been informed by its shareholder, Kar-Tess Holding S.A. (a member of the Kar-Tess Group), that it has merged with Socomex S.A. (also a member of Kar-Tess Group).

Kar-Tess Holding S.A. currently holds a total of 56,978,932 CCHBC shares (out of 238,260,129 shares outstanding) or 23.914% of its share capital. On the 29th of December 2005, prior to the merger, Kar-Tess Holding S.A. held 19.15% of CCHBC?s share capital and Socomex S.A. held 4.76% of CCHBC?s share capital.

Coca-Cola HBC is one of the world's largest bottlers of products of The Coca-Cola Company and has operations in 26 countries serving a population of approximately 540 million people. CCHBC shares are listed on the Athens Exchange (ATHEX: EEEK), with secondary listings on the London (LSE: CCB) and Australian (ASX: CHB) Stock Exchanges. CCHBC?s American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CCH).