$SODA Pops in Germany as a Report Says $PEP Will Make a Bid

“SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) surged in German trading after an Israeli business website reported that PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) is in talks to buy the home soda-machine maker for more than $2 billion.

The stock rose to the equivalent of $102.28, up 47 percent from yesterday’s closing price in New York. It traded at the equivalent of $78.70 at 1:03 p.m., giving up more than half the gains after PepsiCo Chief Executive Officer Indra Nooyi said in an interview in Myanmar that it’s the first time she had heard about the talks.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is managing negotiations between PepsiCo and SodaStream, Calcalist reported today, without saying where it obtained the information. Calls to SodaStream Chief Executive Officer Daniel Birnbaum and head of investor relations Yonah Lloyd weren’t answered.

SodaStream is growing rapidly at a time when the $183 billion global market for carbonated beverages is slowing. The company is seeking to more than double sales to $1 billion by 2016. Researcher Euromonitor International estimates that annual growth in carbonated beverages will weaken to 2 percent through 2017 from 4 percent in the past four years…”

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