36 acquisitions in February

February 2015 saw 36 food and drink industry transactions recorded on the bevblog.net mergers and acquisitions database. 2 involved sums over $500 million, 1 of them amounting to more than $5,000 million.

• €6,600 million for US based Ball to buy UK based Rexam in packaging.
• $620 million for US based Keurig Green Mountain to repurchase shares from Italy’s Lavazza in coffee.

The €400 million purchase of Serbia’s Danube Foods Group, including Knjaz Milos bottled water, by UK based Mid Europa private equity didn’t quite reach $500 million because of recent exchange rate variations.

Of the 36 total, 6 were in alcohol, 6 in ingredients, 6 in packaging and 5 in soft drinks.

17 were within national borders and 19 international. The United States featured in 20, followed by the United Kingdom on 9, Spain on 4 and France on 3.