31 acquisitions in March

March was relatively light on food and drink industry transactions, with just 31 recorded on the bevblog.net mergers and acquisitions database.

3 of these were worth over $500 million:

• $1,600 million for China Resources Beer to buy the remaining 49% of China Resources Snow Breweries from SABMiller as part of its takeover by Anheuser-Busch InBev

• €684 million for Italy’s Campari to purchase Marnier-Lapostolle spirits in France

• $500 million for Dutch dairy FrieslandCampina to acquire 51% of Engro Foods in Pakistan.

Of the 31 total, 7 were in alcohol, 4 in packaging, 3 in soft drinks and 2 each in dairy, equipment, meat and services.

22 countries featured, with the United Kingdom involved in 11, the United States in 9, the Netherlands in 4 and China in 3.