58 acquisitions in October

58 food and drink mergers, acquisitions and investments were recorded on the bevblog.net database for October.

7 exceeded $500 million and 3 of these reached $1,000 million, led by:

• €1,623 million in soft drinks for PAI private equity based in France and others to buy Refresco based in Netherlands

• $1,600 million for Graphic Packaging to purchase International Paper’s North American consumer packaging business

• $1,000 million in dairy for Canada’s Saputo to acquire Australia’s Murray Goulburn.

Among the 58, 13 were in soft drinks, 10 in alcohol, 8 in ingredients, 6 in packaging, 5 in dairy and 5 in snacks.

31 were international and 27 within national borders, including 14 in the United States and 4 in Australia.

32 countries featured – more than usual. The United States participated in 22, Germany in 6, Australia and the United Kingdom in 5, France and the Netherlands in 4. Canada, Japan, Switzerland and Thailand were involved in 3. Others included Chile, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Peru and Saudi Arabia.