Danone buys stake in RI firm

Danone buys stake in RI firm

PARIS (Reuters): French food group Danone said yesterday that it had signed an agreement to buy a 40 percent stake in PT Tirta Investama, the holding company of Indonesia's Aqua Group.

The Aqua Group is Asia's largest water business with annual sales of more than one billion liters, Danone said in a statement.

It did not disclose the terms but said the purchase of the holding company stake from the Utomo family of Indonesia was expected to close in the third quarter of this year.

The Aqua Group, whose products will be labeled 'Aqua Danone', is the market leader in both the Indonesian bottled and fountain water segments with a market share of about 50 percent.