CCA set for big leap back

Coca-Cola Amatil has enhanced its senior management ranks as it counts down to its December re-entry into the Australian beer and cider market after a two-year absence.

It has appointed the former local boss of spirits house Campari as its new director of licensed alcohol.

A new management structure sitting underneath CC Amatil's Australian beverages managing director, John Murphy, has also been put in place. It will span all of Coca-Cola's alcoholic offering in the local market including beer, cider and spirits.

It comes as CC Amatil is poised to unveil a fresh assault on the $11 billion Australian beer and cider market from December 17.

It agreed to stay away from the sector for two years as a condition of its sale of the half-stake in the Pacific Beverages brewing joint venture to SABMiller when the world's second largest brewer bought Foster's.

CC Amatil boss Terry Davis has been counting the days until he can launch himself back in a sector with an estimated $1.4 billion profit pool and some of the highest margins in the brewing world.

To prepare for its re-entry in less than three months, CC Amatil has appointed Shane Richardson as director of licensed alcohol.

Mr Richardson was previously managing director of Campari Australia and New Zealand, the Italian spirits house, which is the sixth-biggest player in the global beverages industry with brands such as Wild Turkey, its namesake Campari, Cinzano, SKYY Vodka and Frangelico.