49 acquisitions in March

Lower than expected. 49 food and drink industry transactions were recorded on the bevblog.net mergers and acquisitions database in March. Not only that. There were fewer of scale than usual. Just 2 reached $500 million, though 1 of these exceeded $4,000 million.

• £3,340 million for US-based Berry Global to buy UK-based RPC in packaging.

• $585 million for US-based Olympus private equity to buy UK-based DS Smith’s plastics division.

Of the 49 total, 10 were in ingredients, 6 in alcohol, 6 in soft drinks, 5 in plant-based and 3 each in dairy, packaging and services.

18 were inside national borders, 15 of these in the United States. 31 were international, spanning 25 countries.

The United States topped the overall rankings on 27, followed by the United Kingdom on 9, France on 4, Japan on 4 and 3 apiece for Belgium, China, Norway and Sweden.

The UK made 7 international divestments and Japan 4 international purchases. 8 of the March list were funding rounds.