Tel Aviv (dpa) – US-based PepsiCo Inc. announced on Monday that it is acquiring Israel’s SodaStream, a producer of at-home carbonated water machines, for 3.2 billion dollars in cash.
The purchase, expected to close by January 2019, is a major win for SodaStream which previously faced international boycott efforts for operating a factory in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
«PepsiCo and SodaStream are an inspired match,» said PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi adding that SodaStream makes «great-tasting beverages while reducing the amount of waste generated.»
PepsiCo said it is buying all outstanding shares of SodaStream for 144 dollars per share, a 32-per-cent premium.
SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum called the deal an «important milestone.»
The beverage company faced a fierce international campaign from the BDS movement, a group of pro-Palestinian activists who advocate cultural and economic boycotts of Israel in the name of Palestinian rights. Israel accuses BDS of being anti-Semitic by singling out the Jewish-majority state.
In 2014 SodaStream, citing financial reasons, said it was closing its West Bank factory and moving to southern Israel. The BDS movement said the company caved to boycott pressure.
Birnbuam has denied that company moved due to BDS pressure, and accused BDS of harming the hundreds of Palestinian workers it employed in the West Bank.