PURCHASE, NY – PepsiCo's proposed acquisition of its two largest anchor bottlers, The Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG) and PepsiAmericas (PAS), may bump up its fleet size to make it the largest beverage fleet in the U.S. Coca-Cola Enterprises currently tops the fleet segment at 28,038 vehicles, based on Automotive Fleet's Top 300 Commercial Fleets listing.

With the combined total of PBG and PAS' fleet numbering more than 15,000, PepsiCo's fleet would slide into the top spot (based on size) at approximately 35,165 vehicles (20,165 currently).

Though Interstate Brands Corp. comes in third in the food & beverage company fleets, it falls much farther behind at 8,638 vehicles.

Upon acquiring the outstanding shares of the two bottlers, PepsiCo would handle distribution of about 80 percent of its total North American beverage volume, including both its direct-store-delivery and warehouse systems, according to an April 20th statement released by the company.

"Consolidating the bottling businesses with our franchise company would create many benefits," said PepsiCo Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Indra Nooyi. "We could unlock significant cost synergies, improve the speed of decision making, and increase our strategic flexibility. We would be able to present a more unified face to our retail and food service customers, which would better position us to provide customized solutions, as we do at Frito-Lay, and to take to a new level our 'Power of One' program of bundled food and beverage offerings."

The Pepsi Bottling Group is based in Somers, N.Y., while PepsiAmericas is located in Minneapolis.

More information about the proposal is available at www.transactioninfo.com/pepsico.