Coca-Cola in Acquisition of a $2.1 Billion Interest in Monster Beverage

Cleary Gottlieb is representing The Coca-Cola Company on the antitrust aspects of its $2.15 billion acquisition of a 16.7% equity stake in Monster Beverage Corporation, the owner of Monster energy drinks. The Coca-Cola Company and Monster have also entered into a strategic partnership that will expand distribution of Monster’s products through the Coca-Cola system and align each company’s product portfolios through a two-way brand transfer. The Coca-Cola Company will transfer ownership of its worldwide energy brands to Monster, and Monster will transfer ownership of its non-energy brands to The Coca-Cola Company. The transaction is expected to close in late 2014 or early 2015.

Cleary Gottlieb has served as antitrust counsel to The Coca-Cola Company on numerous previous transactions including its recent $1.2 billion investment in Keurig Green Mountain, and its previous $12.3 billion acquisition of the North American bottling operations of Coca-Cola Enterprises.