US-based bottling firm Coca-Cola Bottling Consolidated has signed a non-binding letter of intent (LoI) with the Coca-Cola Company to enhance its distribution in northern Ohio, US.

The transaction is expected to facilitate exclusive distribution rights for the firm in territories located in and around Cleveland, Ohio.

Currently served by another bottler, the distribution business in these territories will be acquired by Coca-Cola Refreshments USA (CCR), a division of the Coca-Cola Company, which will later divest them to Coca-Cola Bottling Consolidated.

The LoI also states that the distribution territory in northern West Virginia, associated with CCR’s Wheeling and Fairmont sales centres, will not be a part of the distribution territory expansion transaction.

"The transaction is expected to facilitate exclusive distribution rights for the firm in territories located in and around Cleveland, Ohio."

The firm has expanded distribution since May 2014, into Delaware, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia, in addition to purchasing manufacturing plants in Maryland, Ohio, and Virginia.

The company is currently working towards acquiring a manufacturing plant in Twinsburg and expanding distribution territories, as well as closing proposed transactions for the purchase of distribution territory in parts of Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio.

Coca-Cola Bottling Consolidated has further plans to work on its definitive agreements for the exchange of distribution territory with CCR and Coca-Cola Bottling Company United.

Expected to close by the end of this year, the transaction proposed in the LoI is subject to the firms reaching a definitive agreement.