Richard Hall, Chairman of Zenith International, specialist consultants to the food and drink industries worldwide, reports in his beverage industry blog that the pace of food and drink company acquisitions continued unabated over the summer months.
Out of 34 more recorded in July and August, 10 were in soft drinks, 5 in beer, 5 in wine and spirits, 3 in ingredients and 3 in packaging.
23 countries were involved, led by the United States and United Kingdom, with other important contributions from France, Russia, China and Japan.
16 of the transactions were across borders, 18 within single countries. Anheuser-Busch InBev and Rio Tinto both made two divestments.
The biggest deal was PepsiCo’s $7.8 billion agreement to buy out its two leading bottlers. Rio Tinto’s sales added up to $3.2 billion.
