The story
The Coca-Cola Company decided to consolidate the many independent bottling groups in the Coca-Cola System. Previously, independent businesses in remote geographic areas bottled Coca-Cola products and distributed the merchandise to stores.
In 1980, Coca-Cola acquired the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of New York for $215 million. In 1982, Coca-Cola acquired the Associated Coca-Cola Bottling Company for $417.5 million. In 1986, Coca-Cola acquired the bottling operations of Beatrice Foods and the bottling operations of the Lupton family. Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. was spun off from The Coca-Cola Company in 1986.
After buying these bottlers, Coca-Cola spun this function off to anchor bottlers in various parts of the world. Coca-Cola Enterprises continued to acquire regional bottlers throughout the 1990s.
The company had its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia and was a separate corporation from The Coca-Cola Company; both companies were listed on the New York Stock Exchange and were components of the S&P 500.
Similar anchor bottlers include the South Pacific area's Coca-Cola Amatil, Eastern Europe's Coca-Cola Hellenic, and Latin America's Coca-Cola FEMSA.
From Wikipedia’s article on Coca-Cola Enterprises, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7