2016 was another record year for food and drink industry transactions, with 614 registered, an average of almost 12 each week.
The total is 18 more than in 2015 and 32% higher than five years ago. The number has increased each year apart from a dip in 2013.
The most active sectors were soft drinks on 74, packaging on 64, dairy on 58 and ingredients on 51. Wine on 49 was ahead of spirits on 41 and beer on 37.
Soft drinks deals increased by 60% (+28), with spirits up 46% (+13) and dairy up 41% (+17), while beer activity dropped by 34% (-19). Bakery and snacks takeovers more than doubled.
Anheuser-Busch InBev, Nestlé, Emmi, Constellation Brands, Frutarom and Sazerac were the most acquisitive companies of 2016, according to the bevblog.net food and drink transactions database, with each responsible for six or more takeovers. Coca-Cola, Danone and DMK all made five purchases.
Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch InBev and Nestlé were the only companies to agree 5 or more sales, followed by Pernod Ricard on 4, then Carlsberg and ConAgra on three each. Coca-Cola undertook 30 separate divestments as it accelerated its franchise restructuring.
A total of 966 companies were involved across 60 countries, with the United States and United Kingdom most prominent overall.
France was the biggest net buyer (+13), followed by Germany (+11), Japan (+10) and Switzerland (+8).
The United Kingdom was the main net seller (-21), followed by Brazil (-11), Russia (-8) and Italy (-6).
Out of a record 614 food and drink transactions covered by the bevblog.net mergers and acquisitions database for 2016, 22 involved sums over $1 billion. This was lower than in each of the previous four years, but higher than in 2011.
The $171 billion combined value of the top 10 was under half the $365 billion for the top 10 of 2015, but more than double the $68 billion for the top ten of 2014. It should be noted that the $104 billion Anheuser-Busch InBev purchase of SABMiller was included in 2015, when it was announced, although it was completed in 2016.
The 22 over $1 billion totalled $190 billion, compared with $403 billion for the 27 over $1 billion in 2015 and $108 billion for 35 over $1 billion in 2014.
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