TECH FLASH
Busy year for corporate mergers and acquisitions
Transactions increased in most categories.
2012 was a busy year in corporate mergers and acquisitions. The bevblog.net food and drink mergers and acquisitions database recorded 510 transactions, up 9.4 percent from 466 in 2011.
There were 101 transactions in alcohol, down from 108 in 2011. Of those, 34 were in wine (26 percent increase over 2011), 26 were in beer (43 percent decrease), 23 were in spirits (eight percent decrease), and four were in cider (100 percent increase). Examples include SABMiller’s purchase of Kingway Beer and Bacardi’s acquisition of St. Germain brand liqueur from Cooper Spirits.
Soft drinks saw 83 mergers and acquisitions, down from 91 in 2011. Of those, 22 were in water coolers, seven were in bottled water, and six were in fruit juice. Coca-Cola purchased bottling companies in Sacramento, CA, the Philippines and elsewhere while Pepsi bought 51 percent of Suntory’s stake in the Vietnam beverage market.
Coesia’s acquisition of Oystar headlined a packaging and equipment category that saw 92 mergers and acquisitions, up from 57 in 2011.
Ingredients transactions increased from 42 to 61, a 45 percent increase from 2011. Frutarom’s acquisition activities were aggressive in the ingredients sector, representing three major transactions.
Dairy’s 49 mergers and acquisitions represented a 4 percent decrease from 2011’s 51, including Saputo’s $1.45 billion acquisition of Dean Foods.
You can check out the database here.
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