PepsiCo, bottler to buy stake in Russian juice maker

NEW YORK -- Soft drink maker PepsiCo pep and its biggest bottler are buying a majority stake in Russia's biggest juice company, JSC Lebedyansky, for $1.4 billion, the companies announced Thursday.

PepsiCo, the second biggest U.S. soft drink company and maker of Frito-Lay snacks, and bottler Pepsi Bottling Group pbg will buy a stake of about 75.5% in Lebedyansky held by the company's four biggest individual stockholders. PepsiCo is receiving a majority of the interest.

JSC Lebedyansky had 2007 annual revenue of about $800 million from its juice operations.

The transaction is subject to the spinoff of Lebedyansky's baby food and mineral water business to its shareholders as well as regulatory approvals.

The deal is not expected to close before the third quarter. But once it is completed, PepsiCo and Pepsi Bottling will make a bid to buy the remaining Lebedyansky shares, as required by Russian law.

On Monday, PepsiCo and Pepsi Bottling said they bought Russian beverage company Sobol-Aqua JSC through a joint venture. Terms were not disclosed.