Rival drinks groups, AG Barr and Britvic have agreed oterms of their £1.4bn merger to create a new group called Barr Britvic Soft Drinks.
The companies, which had previously confirmed they were in talks, said the proposed tie-up would create one of Europe’s leading soft drinks firms with annual sales of more than £1.5bn.
However, the merger will come at the expense of up to 500 jobs after the two companies forecast a reduction of between 8% and 12% in their combined headcount of just over 4,000 people.
Hertfordshire-based Britvic, whose brands include Robinsons, Fruit Shoot, R Whites and Tango, has around 3,300 staff, including production sites at Chelmsford and Norwich.
AG Barr, which dates back to 1875 and also makes Irn Bru, Tizer and Rubicon, has just under 1,000 employees and has its head office in Glasgow.