Dec 8 (Reuters) – Beverages giant PepsiCo is planning to review its North American supply chain as it engages with activist investor Elliott Management, Bloomberg News reported on Monday citing people familiar with the matter.
An announcement on the review could come as early as this week, and the company was not expected to make any board changes, Bloomberg News reported citing the people.
Elliott Management had disclosed a $4 billion stake in PepsiCo in September, and pushed the company to take several steps including refranchising or spinning off its bottling operations, and consider selling non-core assets in its food business.
PepsiCo and Elliott Management did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ requests for comment.
PepsiCo was also looking at changes to its capital allocation, and was expected to stress on its pricing and packaging strategies and efforts to introduce fresh products, Bloomberg’s report added.
In October, PepsiCo, which has lagged rival Coca-Cola, had said interactions with Elliott had been collaborative.
However, CEO Ramon Laguarta did not, at the time, provide a clear answer to the activist investor’s idea to spin off PepsiCo’s large North American bottling network to help grow margins.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that PepsiCo was nearing a settlement with the activist investor.
(Reporting by Juveria Tabassum in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
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