Coke takes stake in Monster Beverage Corp.

CORONA - Coca-Cola is acquiring an ownership interest in Corona- based Monster Beverage Corp., it was announced today.

According to terms of the agreement, Coke's $2.15 billion procurement of Monster common stock amounts to a 16.7 percent equity stake -- a large enough position for the company to claim two seats on Monster's board of directors.

Both companies will swap certain product lines as part of a marketing and distribution realignment, which is intended to ''optimize the parties' capital and resource allocation,'' representatives from Coke and Monster said in a joint statement.

Coke wil...