President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. meets with Coca-Cola executives on Monday, February 26, 2024. (Photo from Presidential Communications Office)
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. welcomed the $1 billion expansion plans of international beverage brand Coca-Cola in the Philippines, said the Palace on Tuesday.
Marcos met with Coca-Cola’s top executives in Malacañan Palace on Monday, where they discussed the company’s plans to increase its operations in the Philippines.
“It’s very encouraging that you have decided to expand your operations here. I can, I am sure to the success simply because we have the markets here, growing, the people are, our population is relatively young, and so they are still very much in your market and I can see how the expansion could work,” Marcos said in the meeting.
Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. (AEV) President and Chief Executive Officer Sabin Aboitiz and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners’ (CCEP) Chairperson Sol Daurella Comadrán were also in the meeting.
The AEV and the CCEP recently finalized a P100-billion buyout of Coca-Cola in the Philippines, with the former getting 40 percent and the latter getting 60 percent.
READ: Aboitiz, partner finalize P100-B Coca-Cola Philippines takeover
“We generate 100,000 plus [employees] throughout the distribution, through our supplies, etc., And we’re very enthusiastic and we see, we need to invest in the Philippines, invest to grow the business. And in the next five years, we’re planning for US$1 billion investment, and in fact, we’ve even doing a new plant, which we are building in Tarlac,” Comadran told Marcos.
The CCEP is now the sole distributor of Coke products in the Philippines, as well as the largest bottler in the Asia Pacific.