(Reuters) – Carlsberg (CSE:) said on Monday that PepsiCo (NASDAQ:) has agreed to waive a change of control clause in its bottling agreements with Britvic, potentially removing an obstacle to the Danish brewer bidding for the British company.
The move could give Carlsberg the opportunity to boost its bid to acquire British soft drinks maker Britvic, which has rejected two offers from the Danish firm.
“This waiver will take effect if the acquisition of Britvic by Carlsberg, which has received the recommendation of Britvic’s board of directors, is completed,” said Carlsberg, which bottles Pepsi drinks in some markets.
Carlsberg is still considering its position and said in a statement that it could not be certain that any offer would be made.
In 2020, Britvic signed a 20-year deal to franchise PepsiCo drinks such as Pepsi, 7UP and Mountain Dew in the UK.
A change of control clause is a contractual provision that provides a party to an agreement with increased protection in the event that a controlling interest is transferred to another party.