Pepsi Leaves the Philippine Stock Exchange, Here's Why

Pepsi said Friday it secured approval from the Philippine Stock Exchange to delist or stop trading shares in the local bourse. Should you be worried if you are on that side of the softdrink wars?

The arch-rival of Coca-Cola simply fell short of the minimum public float after South Korea's Lotte Chilsung bought a stake in the Philippine unit. A public float refers to the number of shares that are traded.

After the Lotte buy-in, Pepsi Cola Products Philippines' public float fell below the 10% minimum, to 2.1%. The delisting took effect Friday.

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Lotte Chilsung's acqusition of Pepsi in the Philippines has been ongoing since 2019. In the process, Pepsi moved to focus on its beverage offerings, including Pepsi Cola, Mountain Dew. 7-Up and Mirinda.

In September last year Pepsi in the Philippines stopped locally producing Cheetos, Lays, Doritos, Ruffles, Red Rock Deli, Fritos, Tostitos, Sunchips, Smartfood, Munchies, and Rold Gold. The snacks will be imported.

It's been a busy week for news on the softdrink front. Coca-Cola said it was cutting 2,200 jobs globally. RC Cola dropped the sequel to its mind-blowing commercial. Then there are those who wondered what happened to Pop Cola.

Pop Cola's parent, Cosmos, was also forced to delist but the circumstances are different compared to Pepsi. Cosmos was acquired by a direct competitor, Coca-Cola.