Stocks: Giant-Size Coke Offer

It is a move that may strengthen Coca-Cola in its never-ending battle with PepsiCo for soft-drink supremacy. Coke intends to sell to the public 51% of the stock in Coca-Cola Enterprises, a mammoth group (estimated 1986 revenues: $3.2 billion) of bottling and canning operations that have been spun off from the parent company. This initial stock offering, which will be the largest in U.S. history, will raise up to $1.7 billion.

A few days after the announcement of the stock offering, executives at the soft-drink giant’s Atlanta headquarters had another reason to toast themselves with Coca-Cola — or champagne. Wendy’s International, the Dublin, Ohio-based burger chain, announced that all of its 1,212 company-owned fast-food outlets would switch the cola they sell from Pepsi to the “Real Thing.”