Dow Schofield Watts has advised on the sale of Histogram, a UK soft drinks business based in Durham, to Refresco Holdings BV.a major European manufacturer of soft drinks.

This is the first acquisition by Refresco in the United Kingdom and is part of Refresco’s overall buy and build growth strategy. Histogram is a specialist manufacturer of juice and juice drinks. Histogram’s focus has been on co-packing for A-brands. offering a range of carton packaging systems encompassing singleserve and multi-serve formats. It was formed in February 2001 through a Management Buyout from the previous owners Coca-Cola. Histogram has a turnover of £30 million on a basis comparable to Refresco and has 68 employees.

Under the terms of the deal Mr. Chris Banks, a Founding Director and principal Shareholder of Histogram will remain on the board as a minority shareholder.

Refresco is owned by a consortium of Icelandic investors of which FL Group is the lead investor and Kaupthing Bank and Vifilfell are also investors.