Latin America’s largest Coca-Cola bottler, Coca-Cola Femsa, has announced an agreement to buy the bottling operations of Mexico-based Grupo Cimsa for US$837m.

According to Coca-Cola Femsa, Cimsa also has operations in Guerrero and Michoacan and is forecast to sell 159 million unit cases this year.

Coca-Cola Femsa CEO Carlos Salazar said that the agreement confirms that the company represents a transparent and diversified investment vehicle for families that have been in the beverage industry for a long time.

The company’s chief financial officer, Hector Trevino, said that Coca-Cola Femsa hopes to achieve annual cost savings of more than Mex$260m (US$20m) from Cimsa’s bottling unit.

Cimsa operates three bottling plants and 18 distribution centres.