DANONE Expands in Mexico's Water Market

GENEVA - Mar 16/04 - SNS -- Groupe DANONE has entered Mexico's home and office water delivery market with the purchase of Arco Iris.

With sales totalling some 350 million liters in 2003, Arco Iris is co-leader in home and office water delivery (HOD) market in Guadalajara, and occupies a strong position in Puebla.

This acquisition is part of Groupe DANONE's development strategy in the Mexican HOD market, the world's leading market in volumes. It follows a number of local agreements signed in 2003 (including the acquisition of a 50% stake in UltraPura in Tijuana, and of 100% of AquaPura in Monterrey).

Groupe DANONE already has a well-established national presence in the Mexican HOD market with the Pureza Aga brand, and is the leader in the bottled water market with the Bonafont brand. The Arco Iris and AquaPura transactions will enable the Group to speed up development of the Bonafont brand in the HOD sector.

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