Not content to acquire middle-market players, the world's 100 largest food and beverage companies are buying out each other.
In one three-week period last summer, $56.2 billion worth of deals were announced, including two megamergers: Bestfoods, the world's 21st largest food company, ended its flirtation with Unilever NV (No. 5) when the Anglo-Dutch conglomerate sweetened its offer to $24.3 billion, and cracker king Nabisco (No. 22) was bought for a budget-busting $29 billion by No. 2 Philip Morris Co., a 3.5 multiple to sales. (See complete list of this year's top 100 on page 72.) Philip Morris will combine Nabisco with its Kraft Foods operations, creating a food conglomerate that challenges Nestle for the title of world's largest food and beverage company.