PepsiCo has announced plans to acquire at-home carbonated drink maker SodaStream for $3.2 billion. The deal gives PepsiCo a new avenue to reach customers — in their homes.
"We get to play in a business — home beverages — where we don't play," PepsiCo CFO Hugh Johnston told CNBC.
With this move, PepsiCo is doubling down on its drinks business, which has struggled in North America as consumers move away from sugary, carbonated beverages. It also seemingly addresses the challenge that buying new drink brands risks cannibalizing its legacy beverages.
Tel Aviv-based SodaStream makes a machine and refillable cylinders through which users can make their own soda or carbonated water drinks.
For SodaStream, the deal is a further chance to broaden its reach through PepsiCo's global footprint. It now distributes in 80,000 individual retail stores across 45 countries. Its biggest markets are Germany, France, Canada and the U.S.
The company helped create the market for in-home soda making, but in recent years it has promoted the product as a tool to make carbonated water, accommodating for changing tastes.