At the beginning of September, AG Barr and Britvic discussed a possible merger. Twitter exploded with ‘Save the ‘Bru’ tweets as Irn-Bru fans sought to keep Scotland’s national drink in Scotland. Now, after months of talks, the companies have decided to proceed with the merger.

The new Barr Britvic Soft Drinks will own a number of popular brands including Robinsons and Tango including the existing Britvic-Pepsi distribution agreement making it the largest soft drink company in the UK. The merged organisation will be house its operational headquarters at Britvic’s existing site in Hemel Hempstead and its legal headquarters in AG Barr’s offices in Cumbernauld, Scotland. AG Barr CEO Roger White and CFO of Britvic John Gibney, who will retain their roles in the new organisation.

Gerald Corbett, Britvic’s chairman, says, “The merger of A.G. Barr and Britvic will create a world class soft drinks company...[The companies] are a fantastic fit with complementary strengths in products, channels and geographies and we will benefit from very significant synergies. Together we will create a bigger, better and stronger business for our consumers, customers and shareholders for now and the future.”

Barr Britvic hopes its shared operational and distributional costs will yield £5 million in net revenue each year. Five hundred jobs will be cut in order to save £35 million per annum.

To read more about the merger, see the following link:

http://www.communicatemagazine.co.uk/news/3964-irn-bru-announces-possible-merger-with-britvic