The Coca-Cola Company has announced that it has increased its investment in UK-based smoothie giant Innocent by buying the majority of the founders' remaining shares, a deal that is subject to governmental approval.
According to Innocent, its founders will retain a minority equity holding and will sit on an executive committee which will continue to support the business as it begins its 'next exciting phase of innovation and international expansion'.
Innocent will continue to be run by its own management team, and will continue to focus on its main aims of getting healthy, natural food and drinks to as many places as possible, pushing harder for better social and environmental standards in business and supporting the activities of the innocent foundation.
The group pointed out that since Coca-Cola's initial investment four years ago, innocent has doubled in size, becoming smoothie market leader across Europe and raising millions of pounds in donations for the innocent foundation.
'Innocent has flourished since our deal with Coca-Cola four years ago,' said Richard Reed, co-founder of innocent. ' They have been hugely supportive of our mission of getting natural, healthy foods to more people and have been 100 per cent committed to protecting our brand and the values it stands for.
'Given the success of the relationship, they will be increasing their investment, supporting even more innovation and international expansion,' he added. 'Importantly for us, the business will be run by a home-grown innocent team in the same unique innocent way, with the founders remaining involved to support the business in the years ahead.'
James Quincey, Coca-Cola’s group president for Europe, noted that the relationship between the organisations had continued to flourish, pointing to innocent's expansion as a result of increased investment.
'We remain confident in the long-term growth potential of the company and the team and consider the brand values as fundamental to continued success,' he added. 'We are excited about the future and getting innocent’s products to more people in more countries with the valuable input and continued support of the founders.'
