Coca-Cola
ISLAMABAD: A Turkish company acquired Coca-Cola (Pakistan) for $300 million. The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has granted approval to the acquisition of Coca-Cola (Pakistan) under phase-1 review of the Competition Act, 2010, and the Competition (Merger Control) Regulations, 2016.
Coca-Cola İçecek (Turkey) acquired a 49.67 percent shareholding of Coca-Cola (Pakistan) through CCI International Holand (one of its subsidiaries) from Atlantic Industries. The transaction involves a total consideration of USD 300 million.
After this transaction, Coca-Cola Turkey will own the majority of shareholding in Coca-Cola (Pakistan) with management.
This is a significant vote of confidence that the Pakistani economy has great potential for above-average returns on their capital for international investors.
The Chairman and Mergers team has streamlined, the merger system and process to expedite mergers/acquisitions applications to facilitate international investors.
Meanwhile, the State Bank of Pakistan has reported a $31 million increase in its foreign exchange reserves by Oct 6, 2023. The total liquid foreign reserves of Pakistan stood at US$ 13.03 billion as of 06-Oct-2023.
The break-up of the foreign reserves position is as under:
i) Foreign reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan: US$ 7.646 billion;
ii) Net foreign reserves held by commercial banks are US$ 5.383 billion
iii) Total liquid foreign reserves: US$ 13.03 billion.
During the week ended on 06-Oct-2023, SBP’s reserves increased by US$ 31
million and amounted to US$ 7.646 billion.
The central bank gave no reason for an increase in its forex reserves. However, analysts believe that foreign exchange dealers are surrendering dollars to the SBP and commercial banks on a daily basis amid the greenback’s falling value.
Meanwhile, in the month of September 2023, the remittances also surged by 5.3 percent. The SBP reported this increase on a month-on-month basis in September 2023.
According to the SBP’s data, overseas workers’ remittances recorded an inflow of US$2.2 billion during Sep 2023. In terms of growth, during Sep 2023, remittances increased by 5.3 percent on m/m. Meanwhile, in the first quarter of the ongoing fiscal year, the SBP recorded a remittance inflow of US$ 6.3 billion.
Remittances inflows during Sep 2023 were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia ($538.2 million), United Arab Emirates ($400 million), United Kingdom ($311.1 million), and United States of America ($263.4 million).
