BANGKOK, Sept 9 | Fri Sep 9, 2011 2:45am EDT
BANGKOK, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Thai bottler, Serm Suk Pcl , said on Friday its major shareholder Pepsico Group would sell its 110.46 million shares in the company to Thai Beverage Logistics for 6.4 billion baht ($213 million).
Pepsico will sell Serm Suk shares at 58 baht each and Thai Beverage Logistics planned to launch a voluntary tender offer to buy all of Serm Suk shares at the same price from Sept. 15-Oct 19, the Thai firm told the stock exchange.
PepsiCo, maker of Pepsi-Cola, Sierra Mist and Tropicana juice, owns 41.54 percent of Serm Suk through Pepsi-Cola (Thai)Trading and Seven-Up Nederland BV.
Shareholders in Serm Suk voted in April to terminate its contracts with the U.S. soft drink maker after more than half a century in business together.
Serm Suk, valued $548 million on the Thai bourse, asked the stock exchange to suspend trading of its shares on Friday morning. The stock was last closed at 61.75 baht on Thursday when it hit a 10-month high of 63 baht.
Shares in Singapore-listed Thai Beverage Pcl , the country's largest brewer and distiller, were halted from trading on Friday morning. ($1 = 30.00 Baht)
(Reporting by Khettiya Jittapong; Editing by Martin Petty)
