Frucor Suntory
Frucor is a Japanese-owned beverage company operating in Australasia, and headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand. The company is known for its V energy drink launched in 1997, which is sold across the world including Europe, South Africa and Argentina. History. Frucor was founded by New Zealand Apple and Pear Board in 1962 and released their first product, Fresh Up. In 1978, New Zealand Olympic track runner John Walker endorsed the Fresh Up product, with the catchphrase "Fresh Up – it's got to be good for you'". Frucor was owned by New Zealand Apple and Pear Board until  1998, when it was purchased for $50 million by Pacific Equity Partners. In 1999 Frucor became the exclusive bottler for Pepsi products in New Zealand. In 2000 Frucor launched V in the UK and Ireland manufactured in the Netherlands. In 2001, "Forbes" named Frucor in its Top 20 Companies of 2002. In January 2002, Groupe Danone purchased Frucor for $294 million after bidding since October 2001 and being rejected by Frucor in the beginning. That same year, Frucor acquired the Australian fruit juice company Spring Valley from Bonlac Foods (now Fonterra). In 2007, Frucor partnered with MySpace to  host a job promotions campaign with participants "Rolling Stone", Billabong. The collaboration with MySpace and the job promoters was the first of its type in Australia. In October 2008, Groupe Danone sold Frucor to Japanese company Suntory for over €600 million. In January 2011, Frucor launched the V brand in Spain, where by June, was already being sold in 8,000 outlets. In 2013, Frucor sponsored the IGN Australia Black Beta Select Awards. In June 2017 Frucor Beverages was renamed Frucor Suntory to align better with its parent company Suntory. Products. Frucor Suntory's diversified portfolio of products includes carbonated  soft drinks, spring water, sports drink and energy drinks, fruit juices, iced tea, flavoured milk, coffee, tea and alcohol. Frucor Suntory distributes a number of sparkling, still and other non-alcoholic beverages. Some of these include: