Israel’s popular homemade seltzer company, SodaStream, has been sold to U.S.-based PepsiCo Inc for $3.2 billion in cash.
SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum said the sale “is validation of our mission to bring healthy, convenient and environmentally friendly beverage solutions to consumers around the world.”
Final closing is anticipated in January 2019, following a vote of shareholders, regulatory approvals and other bureaucratic steps.
SodaStream stock has surged 123 percent in the last year.
The seltzer-machine sales company was founded in 1991, creating machines and accessories for home seltzer-making, including dozens of mix-in flavors. Approximately 500,000 devices are produced by its 3,500 employees monthly and sold in 46 countries worldwide.
According to Birnbaum, the company will continue to operate in Israel.
In October 2014, the company announced it would close its factory in Ma’ale Adumim, which employed hundreds of Palestinians—ironically, due to the BDS movement that pressures not supporting any Israeli companies in Judea and Samaria. The shutdown cost 500 Palestinian employees their jobs.
Now, SodaStream has 1,400 employees near Rahat in the Negev, a third of them Bedouin Arabs.
