Pepsi Sweetens Deal, Buys Bottlers for $7.8B

PURCHASE, N.Y. (TheStreet) -- Apparently, PepsiCo.(PEP Quote) doesn't take rejection lightly.

Months after the soft drink and snacks maker's bid to acquire its two largest bottlers was rejected, Pepsi finally struck a deal to purchase PepsiAmericas(PAS Quote) and Pepsi Bottling(PBG Quote) for $7.8 billion.

Pepsi said it will pay $36.50 a share for Pepsi Bottling and $28.50 a share for PepsiAmericas. Both offers are half stock and half cash.

The bottlers rejected an earlier $6 billion offer by Pepsi, saying it was too low.

Pepsi predicts that owning the bottlers will help the company save about $300 million a year by 2012, up from its original estimates of $200 million. It will also allow Pepsi to manage 80% of its drink distribution in North America.

Shares of Pepsi jumped 4% in morning trading to $58.56, while PepsiAmericas soared 8% to $28.25 and Pepsi Bottling shot up 7.5% to $36.11.

-- Reported by Jeanine Poggi in New York.