82 acquisitions in December

82 more transactions were recorded on the Zenith Global food and drink mergers and acquisitions database in December.

4 amounted to more than $500 million, 3 of these exceeding $1,000 million.

• $1,890 million in dairy for a private placement taken up by 53 investors in China’s Yili

• $1,600 million in US packaging for Gores SPAC to promote Footprint

• $1,350 million also in US packaging for Sonoco to acquire Ball Metalpack from Platinum Equity private equity and Ball

• $825 million in packaging again, for Sweden’s BillerudKorsnäs to purchase US based Verso.

Of the 82 total, 13 were in ingredients, 8 in packaging, 8 in soft drinks, 6 in alcohol, 5 in dairy, 4 in cell-based and 4 in plant-based.

42 were within national borders, 26 of these in the United States, 5 in the United Kingdom and 4 in France. 40 were international, involving 27 countries.

Overall, the United States featured in 37, the United Kingdom in 15, France in 8, Germany in 7, Australia in 5, Canada in 4 and the Netherlands in 4.