Bottle manufacturing plants sale

Transtasman soft-drink bottler and distributor Coca-Cola Amatil says it is in "advanced negotiations" with packaging company Visy Industries to sell its plastic bottle manufacturing facilities in Auckland and Australia.

Amatil said yesterday that any final deal between the two companies would involve a long-term contract for Visy to supply it with plastic bottles. The PET bottle manufacturing plants employ about 250 staff and have a book value of about A$140 million ($165 million). Coca-Cola Amatil said it expected to make "a small premium" on the book value.