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Coca-Cola has roped in investment bankers including Kotak, HDFC Group and Citibank for a proposed initial public offering of its Indian bottling arm, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB), with the issue size pegged at about $1 billion (around Rs 9,027 crore), people aware with the matter told ET.The world’s largest beverage maker is targeting a summer listing for HCCB, with internal preparations progressing toward a valuation of close to $10 billion, one of the people cited above said. The listing could slip to next year only if peak summer demand is significantly hit by rains, similar to last year, the person added.If executed, the HCCB IPO would add to a growing list of large market debuts by multinational consumer companies in India.
Hyundai Motor India raised a record $3.3 billion, while LG Electronics followed with a $1.3-billion issue, both listing locally over 2024 and 2025.Coca-Cola, which leads India’s Rs 60,000-crore soft drinks market, makes and distributes brands such as Coca-Cola, Thums Up, Sprite, Maaza, Kinley, Dasani, Georgia coffee and Schweppes mixers in the country.The IPO process gathered momentum over a year ago after Coca-Cola sold a 40% stake in Hindustan Coca-Cola Holdings Pvt Ltd, the parent of HCCB, to Jubilant Bhartia Group for about Rs 12,500 crore.
The transaction aligned with Coca-Cola’s global asset-light strategy, under which it has been reducing direct ownership of capital-intensive bottling operations to focus on brand building, innovation and digitisation.Jubilant FoodWorks, part of the Jubilant Bhartia Group, operates Domino’s Pizza, Popeyes and Dunkin’ Donuts in India, and the partnership with HCCB is seen as a way to unlock long-term synergies between beverages and quick service restaurant chains.Responding to ET’s queries, an HCCB spokesperson said: “With a realigned leadership team in place, we remain focused on driving operational excellence,” without commenting directly on the IPO plans. In July last year, HCCB appointed Hemant Rupani, formerly president for Southeast Asia at Mondelez, as chief executive, succeeding Juan Pablo Rodriguez.“We have been passing on the benefits of the new GST-led pricing to ensure better value and more affordable choices to consumers.
Any other news is speculative,” the spokesperson added.Coca-Cola sells concentrate to its bottling partners in India. HCCB operates 15 plants, alongside multiple independent bottlers, with operations broadly split between the two. According to filings sourced from business intelligence platform Tofler, HCCB reported revenue of Rs 12,751.29 crore in FY25, a 9% year-on-year decline.The company said the numbers were impacted by the sale of manufacturing plants to existing franchise bottlers across territories including Rajasthan, Bihar, the North East and parts of West Bengal.
These assets were sold to Moon Beverages, Kandhari Global Beverages and SLMG Beverages.For the nine-month period ended September 2025, Coca-Cola disclosed transaction costs of $7 million and a net gain of $102 million from refranchising certain bottling operations in India.Sales across beverage companies were hit last year due to unseasonal and persistent rains during peak summer months from April to September, a period that typically accounts for nearly half of annual soft drink sales.Analysts said the broader food, beverage and restaurant segment could be poised for an upswing, aided by consolidation and a revival in consumer demand after several quarters of muted growth. On January 1, Jubilant FoodWorks’ rivals Devyani International and Sapphire Foods announced a merger to bring KFC and Pizza Hut under Devyani International, creating a network of over 3,000 stores. Devyani International is owned by RJ Corp, one of PepsiCo’s largest franchise bottlers.JP Morgan analysts said the merger could lead to a simpler structure, meaningful cost savings and faster decision-making, ET reported.
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