67 acquisitions in August

August was another bumper month for food and drink industry transactions, with 67 recorded on the bevblog.net mergers and acquisitions database – the second highest ever.

Unusually, none exceeded $1 billion or even $500 million. The two biggest were:

• $425 million in meat for Hormel Foods to buy Fontanini in the United States

• €340 million for US based Corvex private equity to take a strategic 0.8% stake in Danone of France.

Of the 67 total, 12 were in alcohol and 12 in soft drinks, with 6 in dairy, 5 in packaging, 4 in ingredients and 4 in services.

37 were within national borders, including 26 in the United States, 4 in the United Kingdom, 2 in Australia, 2 in Canada and 2 in the Netherlands.

30 were international, with 15 involving the United States, 6 Japan, 5 the United Kingdom (all sales), 4 Australia, 4 France, 3 Israel (all purchases) and 3 Turkey (all sales).

22 countries featured overall.