Coca-Cola to refinance debt

Coca-Cola Co. plans to refinance billions of dollars in corporate bonds, a move designed to lock in lower interest rates even while it increases the amount of debt held by the world's largest drinks company. The company is offering to buy back about $4.39 billion of its own bonds.

Coca-Cola, with net debt of about $8.3 billion, predicts that the refinancing may increase its net debt by about half a billion dollars. The company assumed about $8 billion in debt when it took over the North American business of bottler Coca-Cola Enterprises. Now, it is trying to take advantage of low interest rates.

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