PURCHASE, N.Y. - PepsiCo closed the deal to buy its two biggest bottlers Friday -- a move that's expected to shake up the beverage industry.
The $7.8 billion buyout of Pepsi Bottling Group and Minneapolis-based PepsiAmericas will allow the nation's second-largest drink maker to try out more new products and get them to market more quickly.
That will let the maker of Pepsi soft drinks and Tropicana juices better respond to a changing market and keep up with shoppers who are switching to juices and teas or buying fewer drinks altogether.
The deal, first announced in August, is also a way for PepsiCo to save money because it won't be using other companies for its distribution. It estimates pretax savings of $400 million by 2012 from the buyouts, though analysts expect higher.
PepsiCo's rival Coca-Cola Co. also plans to bring U.S. distribution in-house by buying the North American operations of its biggest bottler. It announced that deal Thursday after months of denials that it would follow in PepsiCo's footsteps.
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