The Coca-Cola Corporation has paid between $80 million to $90 million for a further 40% stake in Innocent, a smoothie maker.

Coca-Cola already owns an 18% stake in the company, which it finalized in April last year.

As part of the deal, however, the three founders, Richard Reed, Adam Balon and Jon Wright, despite jointly owning only 20% of the business, will remain in operational control of the company. Coca-Cola has indicated that this will be the case for as long as the founders want to remain in operational control.

The new deal then represents nothing new in terms of the running of the business, according to the founders.

Richard Reed said that the first year of the partnership with Coke had been a good one, with sales growth of 7% in a difficult economy.

The founders have been careful to play down the massive investment by Coke, which has been criticized for selling unhealthy products.

“The mission and values of Innocent remain unchanged,” they said.