Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company S.A. (Coca-Cola Hellenic, the Company) announces that it has signed an agreement with The Coca-Cola Company and illycaffe SpA to form a three party joint venture.
The joint venture will be responsible for the manufacture, marketing, selling and distribution of premium ready-to-drink coffee under the illy brand across Coca-Cola Hellenic's territories. Three ready-to-drink espresso based coffee products will be introduced in April in ten of Hellenic's markets. The joint venture will be the first to introduce the new products globally.
Commenting, Doros Constantinou, Managing Director of Coca-Cola Hellenic said, ''We are very pleased to finalize this joint venture which combines the strengths of the Coca-Cola System around marketing, customer relationships, and route-to market capabilities with illy, a premium coffee producer. Ready-to-drink coffee is a small but high growth, high value category in most of our markets. We look forward to rolling out these exciting products in several of our markets and strengthen our premium product offering.''
Commenting, Muhtar Kent, president and chief operating officer of The Coca-Cola Company said, ''European consumers in Coca-Cola Hellenic's markets will be the first to experience these great new products offering an authentic Italian coffee experience. I look forward to the partnership with illy which invented the espresso category, and Coca-Cola Hellenic, our largest bottler in Europe with proven marketplace execution capabilities''.
Commenting, Andrea Illy, illycaffe SpA's chairman said, ''Over the past few months, we have brought to life the illy taste in three new ready to drink espresso based products. Our collaborative efforts will redefine how people engage with a ready to drink coffee in order to experience a true small luxury pleasure''.