Coke, partners to invest $5 bln in Mexico

* Investment to come over next five years

* Adds to $5 bln already invested by Coke system since '04

* Mexico is world's biggest per-capita consumer of Coke

TEPOTZOTLAN, Mexico, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Coca-Cola Co (KO.N)
and its bottler partners in Mexico plan to invest $5 billion in
the country over the next five years, the soft drink giant's
chief executive, Muhtar Kent, said on Thursday.

Kent, speaking at the reinaugurating of a juice-making
plant in the colonial town of Tepotzotlan, near Mexico City,
said the new commitment adds to the $5 billion the Coca-Cola
system has already invested in the country since 2004.

Coca-Cola FEMSA (KOFL.MX) (KOF.N), one of the world's
biggest Coke bottlers in the world, is Coke's main partner in
Mexico, the globe's biggest per-capita consumer of Coke soft
drinks. Other small Mexican companies also bottle the drink.

Coca-Cola FEMSA is owned by Monterrey-based brewer FEMSA
(FMX.N) (FMSAUBD.MX), maker of the popular Sol, Bohemia, and
Tecate beers. Its main rival is Grupo Modelo (GMODELOC.MX), the
brewer of Corona beer.

President Felipe Calderon said at the same event that
foreign direct investment in Mexico during the first half of
2009 totaled $10 billion. The country is facing its worst
recession in decades, dragged by the crisis in the United
States, where it ships about 80 percent of all its exports.
(Reporting by Noel Randewich, writing by Cyntia Barrera Diaz,
editing by Matthew Lewis)