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Carlsberg and PepsiCo are expanding their strategic partnership with a new agreement that will see Carlsberg become the PepsiCo bottler in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Beginning on 1 January 2026, Carlsberg will take over the PepsiCo franchise to produce non-alcoholic beverages in the two countries.

As part of the deal, Carlsberg plans to invest more than €100 million in building a new production facility for soft drinks in Kazakhstan. This investment is expected to deliver a double-digit return on invested capital (ROIC) from year one, and will be accretive to Group ROIC by year three, the brewing giant confirmed.

Jacob Aarup-Andersen, CEO of Carlsberg Group, said: “This new agreement adds significant volume to our business in Kazakhstan, strengthening our presence in the market and further building our business in Kyrgyzstan. We are happy to see our long-standing partnership with PepsiCo expand further into these two markets, underlining the long-term potential of the collaboration between PepsiCo and the Carlsberg Group.”

Carlsberg and PepsiCo already have existing bottling agreements in five other markets across Europe and Asia – Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Cambodia and Laos. Earlier this year, Carlsberg revealed plans to acquire Britivic.

While the transaction is currently subject to regulatory and legal requirements, with the CMA initiating an investigation into the deal to assess its impact on competition in the UK market, the deal would allow Carlsberg to produce and distribute soft drinks for PepsiCo in the UK and Ireland if approved.

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