Coca-Cola takes a bigger slice of Innocent

Innocent, Britain’s leading smoothie maker, has sold further shares to Coca-Cola, taking the American giant’s stake in the company to 58 per cent.

Innocent’s two start-up investors will sell all of their shares in order to retire, while the three founders of the company, Richard Reed, Adam Balon and Jon Wright, will sell a minority of their own shares.

Coca Cola bought an 18 per cent stake in Innocent in April last year for £30 million, when it was valued at £300 million.

Innocent, which is known for its idealistic corporate stance, insisted the company’s commitment to natural products and environmentally friendly packaging and ingredients would not be changed by the deal.

Mr Reed said: “It’s been a good 12 months for Innocent — our sales are up, we’ve grown our business in Europe and Coke have been the hands-off investor they promised to be. They’ve helped whenever we’ve asked, haven’t interfered and have been great people to work with.”

On Maurice Pinto, who invested the first £250,000 in the company, he added: “Maurice is now 76 and wants to retire, so this is the opportunity for him to realise the value he’s helped create. We’re really happy for him.”

Coca-Cola said they believed in the business’s “long-term growth potential”.

Innocent employs 220 people and sells smoothies in 13 countries across Europe. It has built its reputation on sourcing natural, environmentally friendly food and materials.

Swallowed up by the corporate world

* Ben & Jerry’s Sold by its founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield to Unilever in 2000 for £175 million. Four years later the once-radical ice-cream maker was admitting that it was “beginning to look like the rest of corporate America”

* Pret A Manger The fresh sandwich maker beloved by middle-class office workers sold a third of itself to its antithesis, McDonald’s, for about £25 million in 2001. Pret was forced to say that the burger chain had no role in its decision making. Eventually, though, McDonald’s sold to the private equity firm Bridgepoint, which took over Pret last year in a £345 million deal

* The Body Shop The late Dame Anita Roddick and her husband made £130 million when they sold The Body Shop to L’Oréal, the French cosmetics giant, for £652 million. L’Oréal’s stance on animal testing was seen by antivivisection campaigners as not matching Dame Anita’s zeal, but the company’s trading remained healthy

* Green & Blacks The organic chocolate brand was swallowed up by Cadbury in 2006 for £24 million, although its founders, Craig Sams and his wife, Josephine Fairley, had already sold 80 per cent to investors – to relatively little complaint from chocolate eaters