Coca-Cola Amatil faces an uphill battle convincing investors of the merits of a $9.3 billion bid from Coca-Cola European Partners, despite forcing the European bottler to lift its initial pre-pandemic offer by more than $2 billion.

Coca-Cola Amatil shareholders have branded CCEP's $12.75 a share cash offer for the 69.2 per cent of the company not owned by The Coca-Cola Co as opportunistic and too low, saying it does not take into account the bottler's recovery from the coronavirus.