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Coca-Cola Amatil Limited (ASX:CCL) has bought Vonu Beer with the aim of turning the Fijian premium craft lager into a regional export product, according to media reports
Vonu Pure Lager has been distributed across Fiji for a few years and is marketed as a premium hand-crafted beer sold under the slogan Pure Fiji rainwater turned into beer.
Coca-Cola Amatil reportedly paid $NZ5 million for the intellectual property assets of Vonu Beer as well as all its trademarks and brands throughout the world, including Fiji.
The company will bring Vonu Lager to Australia and New Zealand early next year and is expected to play up the beverage's use of ingredients such as pure rainwater and no use of preservatives.
The company hopes Vonu Lager will strike a chord with Australian drinkers, who make up 50 per cent of the annual visitors to Fiji, and New Zealanders, who are Fiji's second largest group of tourists.
Coca-Cola Amitil generated a net profit of $216 million in the first half of 2013.
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