Opinion
34 acquisitions in July 2010
July was a bumper month for transactions in terms of numbers and variety, but few were above $1bn. I’ve recorded 34 across a wide range of sectors. 11 were in soft drinks, six in alcohol and five in dairy.
More than 25 countries were involved, with the US most active by far, followed by France, the UK, China and Singapore.
Two deals were worth more than $1bn: an Asian sugar acquisition and the European tie-up between Birds Eye and Findus. Kirin’s stake in Fraser & Neave came close at $970m.
June 2010
- Beer – (US) Metropoulos private investment fund buys Pabst Brewing Co from Kalmanovitz Charitable Trust ($500m sales).
July 2010
- Food – Atlantic Grupa from Croatia to buy Droga Kolinska of Slovenia from Istrabenz (€382m).
- Packaging – Graham Packaging from US completes purchase of China Roots from PCCS Group.
- Spirits – William Grant from UK completes purchase of spirits business from C&C of Ireland (€300m).
- Sugar – American Sugar Refining to buy EU sugar refining operations from Tate & Lyle of UK (£211m).
- Wine – Diego Zamora from Spain buys Ambrosio Velasco from Pernod Ricard of France (€33.1m).
- Beer – (Czech) Pivovary Staropramen absorbs Starbev Czech Republic and Malvil Consulting.
- Confectionery – Oryxa Capital investment fund buys Kandia-Excelent in Romania from Kraft of US.
- Dairy – (US) Hain Celestial buys 3 Greek Gods yogurt business ($10m sales).
- Fruit juice – Cott from Canada to buy Cliffstar own-label producer in US ($500m).
- Packaging – DS Smith from UK to buy Otor in France from Carlyle private equity firm (£206m).
- Soft drinks – (US) NutriPure Beverages to buy Brenlin distributor.
- Sugar – Singapore’s Wilmar to buy Sucrogen from CSR of Australia ($1.5bn).
- Beer – Carlsberg from Denmark increases stake in Olivaria of Belarus from 30% to 47%.
- Soft drinks – (US) Famous Products buys DNA Beverage and is renamed DNA Brands.
- Ingredients – Canada’s Marco Hi-Tech to buy Reducol business from Forbes Medi-Tech ($1.4m).
- Packaging – (US) Sun Capital private investment firm completes purchase of assets from Bemis ($82m).
- Soft drinks – US alcohol business Iconic Brands buys Specialty Beverage and Supplement.
- Frozen food – Permira private equity group to buy Findus in Italy from Unilever of UK/Netherlands and merge Findus with Birds Eye Iglo of UK (€805m).
- Dairy – Olam International from Singapore to buy remaining 82% of NZ Farming Systems Uruguay (NZ$110m).
- Fruit juice – (US) SensoryEffects flavour systems buys Juice Pac.
- Food – Olam International from Singapore completes purchase of Gilroy Foods & Flavours from ConAgra of US ($250m).
- Soft drinks – Sewco International buys 82% of Tycoon iced tea producer in China (HK$390m).
- Water – Best Water Technology from Austria buys Culligan International UK.
- Wine – Castel from France to buy Barton & Guestier in US from Diageo of UK.
- Dairy – Bright Dairy from China to buy 51% of Synlait Milk in New Zealand ($59m).
- Soft drinks – Kiev Investment Group from Ukraine buys Rosinka in Ukraine from Suntory of Japan ($50m est).
- Water coolers – Eden Springs from Israel to buy Nestlé Waters Direct France from Nestlé of Switzerland.
- Soft drinks – Kirin from Japan buys 14.7% of Fraser & Neave in Malaysia from Temasek of Singapore ($970m).
- Packaging – (US) Ball Corporation buys Neuman Aluminum ($128m sales).
- Spirits – Henkell from Germany to buy three brands from Beam Global Spirits & Wine of US.
- Fruit juice – SAIF Partners private equity group from Hong Kong buys 23% of Huiyuan in China from Danone of France (€200m).
- Dairy – Danone from France buys 51% of ProViva in Sweden from Skanemejerier of Sweden.
- Dairy – Lactalis from France buys Rachel’s of UK from Dean Foods of US.
- Food – (US) Pierre Foods, Advance Food Company and Advance Brands to merge as Advance Pierre Foods.
Richard Hall is chairman of Zenith International. You can also read his blog at BevBlog.
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Richard Hall is chairman of Zenith International.
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