Australia's largest non-alcoholic beverage bottler could end up in foreign hands if Coca-Cola Amatil and European bottler Coca-Cola European Partners reach agreement on a proposed $10 billion merger.

When Coca-Cola Amatil shares went into a trading halt on Friday before a "potential material transaction," investors assumed the soft drink, juice and water bottler was poised to raise capital to buy a suite of beer and cider brands from Japanese brewer Asahi.