Coca-Cola Bottlers Uzbekistan (Uzbek: Coca-Cola Ichimligi Uzbekiston Ltd.) is a joint venture between the Uzbek state and the

Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation founded in 1892, best known as the producer of Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company also manufactures, sells, and markets other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups ...

established in 1993. The company is headquartered in

Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of 2 ...

and has four production facilities: two in Tashkent, one in

Namangan Namangan (; ) is a city in eastern Uzbekistan. It is the administrative, economic, and cultural center of Namangan Region. Administratively, it is a district-level city. Namangan is located in the northern edge of the Fergana Valley, less than ...

, and one in

Urgench Urgench ( uz, Urganch//, ; russian: Ургенч, Urgench; fa, گرگانج, ''Gorgånch/Gorgānč/Gorgânc/Gurganj'') is a district-level city in western Uzbekistan. It is the capital of Xorazm Region. The estimated population of Urgench in ...

. In 2019, the company controlled nearly half of Uzbekistan’s market for soft drinks and generated revenue of UZS 1.4 trillion. The Uzbek state currently owns 57.1 percent of the joint venture, with the Coca-Cola Company owning the remainder.

History

Coca-Cola Bottlers Uzbekistan began production in March 1994 with an initial production target of 2.2 million gallons a year. The shareholders were Roz Trading Ltd., an entity controlled by Afghan-American businessman Mansur Maqsudi, the Coca-Cola Company (via The Coca-Cola Export Corporation), and Uzpishprom, an Uzbek state enterprise. In May 1996, the company opened its second bottling plant in the Kirbay district on the outskirts of Tashkent. In February 1997 a second plant was opened in Namangan in order to serve the populous

Fergana Valley The Fergana Valley (; ; ) in Central Asia lies mainly in eastern Uzbekistan, but also extends into southern Kyrgyzstan and northern Tajikistan. Divided into three republics of the former Soviet Union, the valley is ethnically diverse and in the ...

. In June 1997, the company’s fourth plant opened in Urgench in the far west of Uzbekistan. In 2001, the Uzbek government launched an investigation into Roz Trading over alleged financial impropriety. Soon after, Roz Trading’s shares in Coca-Cola Bottlers Uzbekistan were taken over by the Uzbek state. In June 2006, Maqsudi filed a claim against the Coca-Cola Company for allegedly conspiring with Uzbek government to strip Roz Trading of its majority share in the bottling company.

Privatization Plan

In March 2019, Uzbek President

Shavkat Mirziyoyev Shavkat Miromonovich Mirziyoyev (Uzbek Latin: ''Shavkat Miromonovich (Miromon o‘g‘li) Mirziyoyev'', Uzbek Cyrillic: Шавкат Миромонович (Миромон ўғли) Мирзиёев ; born 24 July 1957) is an Uzbek politician ...

signed a decree aimed at improving the attractiveness of Uzbekistan for foreign investors. This decree mandated the privatization of 64 of the country’s largest state-owned enterprises, including Coca-Cola Bottlers Uzbekistan. In March 2020, the Coca-Cola Company announced it would invest $31 million in its Uzbek joint venture to upgrade the bottling plants. In December 2020, the Uzbek government announced that it had retained

Rothschild & Co Rothschild & Co is a multinational investment bank and financial services company, and the flagship of the Rothschild banking group controlled by the French and British branches of the Rothschild family. The banking business of the firm covers th ...

to manage the sale of a portion of the state the state’s shares in the joint venture.

References

----{{reflist Coca-Cola bottlers Companies of Uzbekistan