Britvic produces a range of drinks, including Robinsons, Fruit Shoot and J2O Soft drink rivals AG Barr and Britvic have agreed the terms of a merger which creates one of Europe's largest soft drinks companies.Irn Bru maker AG Barr and Tango producer Britvic opened discussions about a merger in September.
The new combined company will be called Barr Britvic Soft Drinks plc and will have annual sales of more than £1.5bn.
The merger is likely to see about 500 jobs cut from combined headcount of just over 4,000 people.
The takeover panel had given the companies an extended deadline of 28 November to announce their intentions.
The merger ratio will leave Britvic shareholders with approximately 63% of the new company and AG Barr shareholders with 37%.
In a statement, Britvic non-executive chairman Gerald Corbett said: "The (all-share) merger of AG Barr and Britvic will create a world-class soft drinks company."
'Fantastic fit'He added: "AG Barr and Britvic are a fantastic fit with complementary strengths and we will benefit from very significant synergies."
The job of chief executive will go to Roger White, who is currently the boss of AG Barr.
Continue reading the main story Britvic's roots can be traced back to a Chelmsford chemist who started producing flavoured mineral waters in the mid-19th century. The Britvic Group was established in 1986 when several soft drinks firms merged.Britvic's UK portfolio includes Robinsons, J2O, Fruit Shoot, Tango and Drench.It has exclusive bottling agreements with PepsiCo for brands such as Pepsi and 7UP.Britvic employs about 3,500 staff and sells 1.9bn litres of soft drinks each year.Barr's soft drinks business was started in Falkirk in 1875.The company became AG Barr in 1904, and is now based in Cumbernauld.Its brands include Irn Bru, Tizer and Rubicon.The new combined company will be called Barr Britvic Soft Drinks, with annual sales of more than £1.5bn.The head office of Barr Britvic will be in Cumbernauld, which will also be its registered office, while the new group's operational headquarters will be located at Britvic's existing head office in England.The firms were originally due to announce their bid intentions by the beginning of October but were granted extensions after stating that talks were ongoing.
A Britvic statement added: "The boards of AG Barr and Britvic believe that the combined group will be able to achieve recurring annual cost synergies of approximately £35m."
Cumnernauld and Kilysth SNP MSP Jamie Hepburn welcomed the news that the merged company's head office would be in Cumbernauld but said "clarity was now needed" on how many of the 500 proposed jobs cuts would be in Scotland.
Mr Hepburn said: "It is a positive development that the new company want to retain their base in Cumbernauld, obviously seeing the business benefits of remaining head-quartered north of the border.
"What everyone will now be looking for is clarity on is where the job losses will be coming from. With the group's operational headquarters planned to at Britvic's existing head office in England, this creates some doubt."
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