Coca-Cola acquires complete control of BodyArmor. It is an investment of 5.6 billion dollars.
According Wall street journal, the deal will value the sports drink brand at just over $ 8.1 billion.
Coca-Cola, which already has 30 percent of BodyArmor, and with this new purchase will reach 100 percent by acquiring the remaining percentage from the company’s founders and investors.
Among the vendors is a group of professional athletes like James Harden (NBA) and Mike Trout (MLB), elite athletes who invested in the drink.
Even the purchase will impact the estate of the late former NBA player Kobe Bryant, one of BodyArmor’s early backers. The fund formed after his death will raise approximately $ 400 million because it is part of BodyArmor.
Bryant invested $ 6 million in the brand a few years ago.
Gatorade leads the sports drink market, although BodyArmor sales have grown rapidly.
BodyArmor’s goal is to generate about $ 1.5 billion in sales by 2021, according to WSJ. In 2018, it marketed beverages worth approximately $ 250 million, when Coca-Cola first invested.
In early 2021, the Coca-Cola Company said it was in talks to acquire a majority stake in BodyArmor. The transaction is expected to be announced on Monday, November 1.
PepsiCo-owned Gatorade gets the bulk of the $ 8.5 billion consumers spend on sports drinks (2020 data) from U.S. retail, according to Nielsen.
Gatorade sells in that country, more than 60 percent of the total. Powerade, with 13 percent (also a Coca-Cola brand) is third, as BodyArmor came in second with 18 percent of the market.
The BodyArmor transaction would be the largest brand acquisition in Coke history, surpassing the $ 5.1 billion paid in 2018 for Costa Coffee, the Atlanta company’s foray into the coffee shop business.