Shareholders Want More From Pepsi

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.