Weeks after announcing it will sell a majority stake in its biggest bottler in Africa, Coca-Cola has sold its holdings in a major domestic bottling partner.

Coca-Cola last week said it sold its minority stake in its largest U.S. bottler, a deal valued at about $2.4 billion.

The Atlanta beverage company on Nov. 7 said its subsidiary sold all outstanding shares of Coca-Cola Consolidated, a Charlotte-based bottler that serves about 60 million consumers.

The bottler makes, sells and distributes about 300 Coca-Cola brands and flavors across 14 states and the District of Columbia.

Coca-Cola had owned 24.4% of the bottler’s shares, according to a May proxy statement from Coca-Cola Consolidated.

“Coca-Cola Consolidated has been a valued strategic partner for well over a century,” Henrique Braun, Coca-Cola chief operating officer, said in a news release. With the transaction, Coca-Cola also relinquishes its seat on the bottler’s board of directors.

The transaction signals the end of an era in which Coca-Cola kept a stake in key bottlers to have a voice in how they operated, said Duane Stanford, editor and publisher of trade publication Beverage Digest.

“It’s a sign they are comfortable with the bottler governance system they have built for the past 15 years,” he said.

For years, Coca-Cola has reduced its involvement in bottling, a capital-intensive part of its business. The company focuses on brand development and selling syrup and concentrate. Its bottlers produce and distribute the drinks in the markets they serve.

The Coca-Cola Consolidated transaction is “a strong signal of our mutual confidence in the long-term health of the U.S. Coca-Cola system,” J. Frank Harrison III, chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola Consolidated, said in the release.

It might have been a prime time for Coca-Cola to sell, Stanford added. Coca-Cola Consolidated’s share prices are near historic highs in what’s been a volatile year for the stock market because of global trade wars and the rapid rise of artificial intelligence.

Coca-Cola Consolidated paid $127 per share for 18.8 million shares of common stock owned by the Coca-Cola subsidiary, according to the release.

It’s not clear what Coca-Cola intends to do with the proceeds.

Coca-Cola announced another big deal last month.

The beverage company said it will sell a majority stake in Africa’s largest Coca-Cola bottler, a transaction valued at about $2.6 billion. Another large Coca-Cola bottler, Switzerland-based Coca-Cola HBC, will buy the 75% stake in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa.

In 2024, Coca-Cola said its bottling investments made up 13% of its net revenue, down from 52% in 2015. When the Africa deal closes, the company expects bottling investments to represent about 5% of its net revenue.

“We now have a system that is super capable and set up to drive growth well into the future,” James Quincey, Coca-Cola chairman and CEO, said last month during an earnings call, when talking about reducing its bottling investments.

©2025 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Visit at ajc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.