Arca secures Coke franchise

Since Coca-Cola regularly tops the world's "most valuable brand" lists each year, anything that happens to this valuable package of IP rights is newsworthy. IP Tango has just spotted that, right at the end of 2008, it was announced that Embotelladoras Arca, S.A.B. de C.V., the second-largest Coca-Cola bottler in Mexico and Latin America, had acquired a Coca-Cola franchise in the northwestern region of Argentina.

Arca currently operates in the provinces of Catamarca, Jujuy, La Rioja, Salta, Santiago del Estero and Tucuman, serving a population of nearly 5 million. Its 2008 sales are expected to amount to approximately 85 million unit cases. The new franchise is expected to bring this up to more than 120 million unit cases, representing 24% of the sales volume of Coca-Cola branded products in Argentina, and serving a population of 9 million people.