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Zenith reports record 2014 M&A activity

Food and drink industry consultancy Zenith International has reported on 2014 M&A (mergers and acquisition) activity. A record 563 food and drink transactions took place, with a record 35 involved sums over US $1 billion, 2.5 times the number in 2011. The top 10 transactions spanned 13 countries and 10 different product sectors. Their combined […]

Food and drink industry consultancy Zenith International has reported on 2014 M&A (mergers and acquisition) activity. A record 563 food and drink transactions took place, with a record 35 involved sums over US $1 billion, 2.5 times the number in 2011.

The top 10 transactions spanned 13 countries and 10 different product sectors. Their combined value was $68 billion, compared with $97 billion for the top 10 in 2013.  The 35 over $1 billion totalled $108 billion, 19% below the 30 over $1 billion in 2013, but 24% more than the 26 over $1 billion in 2012.

Coca-Cola, Danone, Anheuser-Busch InBev and DS Services were the four most acquisitive companies of 2014, according to the bevblog.net food and drink transactions database, with each responsible for six or more takeovers.  Lactalis, Diageo, FrieslandCampina, Coca-Cola Bottling Co Consolidated and BBX Capital all made five purchases.

Nestlé and Coca-Cola were the only two companies to make five or more sales, followed by Unilever on four, then BASF, Cargill and Constar on three each.

A total of 909 companies were involved across 75 countries, with the United States and United Kingdom consistently most prominent overall.

Reversing the pattern of 2013, US companies made 11 more sales than purchases, while UK companies made 8 more purchases than sales.  France was the biggest net buyer (+16) and Australia/New Zealand the biggest net sellers (-16).