MINNEAPOLIS (CN) - PepsiCo is squeezing out shareholders in its second-largest bottler, PepsiAmericas, in a "self-dealing ... coercive and unfair merger" at an unfair price, PepsiAmericas shareholders claim in Hennepin County Court. PepsiCo on Monday offered about $6 billion to buy back its two biggest U.S. bottlers and distributors - the Pepsi Bottling Group and PepsiAmericas - which Pepsi spun off 10 years ago.
PepsiCo already owns 43 percent of PepsiAmericas. Its offer for both bottlers was about 17 percent over the pre-merger closing price. Plaintiffs in this class action call it "a scant 17 percent." They are represented by Vernon Vander Weide, with Head, Seifert & Vander Weide.
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