Britvic and AG Barr have finally agreed terms of a merger to create a £1.5bn turnover soft drinks company to be called Barr Britvic Soft Drinks.

The key terms remain the same as initially agreed in September. Britvic shareholders will own 63% of the new company and AG Barr shareholders will hold 37%.

AG Barr CEO Roger White will become CEO of Barr Britvic and the current CFO of Britvic John Gibney will be CFO of the combined group.

The two companies predicted that the merger would produce synergies of £40m a year.

“AG Barr and Britvic are a fantastic fit with complementary strengths in products, channels and geographies and we will benefit from very significant synergies,” said Gerald Corbett, Britvic’s non-executive chairman, who will take the same position in the new company.

“The combined group will have a broad portfolio of attractive soft drinks brands with representation in key sub-segments of the soft drinks market,” added Ronald Hanna, AG Barr non-executive chairman, who will become non-executive deputy chairman of Barr Britvic.

It is thought the merger could lead to the loss of 500 jobs from a combined workforce of 4,000 people.

The deadline for Britvic and AG Barr to announce the deal was extended twice - most recently at the end of October - as the companies sought to hammer out the details of the merger, including the name Barr Britvic.

Pepsi bottler Britvic said Pepsi was supportive of the merger. It added that Pepsi had agreed not to exercise any rights of termination it may have as a result of the merger under new terms agreed by the two companies.

The conclusion of the merger will be conditional on the agreement of shareholders of AG Barr and Britvic and regulatory approval.

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