36 acquisitions in March

A somewhat slower month for food and drink transactions recorded on the bevblog.net mergers and acquisitions database, but still more than one per day and with five involving sums over $1,000 million:

• $10,200 million sales from Brazilian sugar trader Copersucar combining in a 50:50 joint venture with Cargill

• $5,700 million for Singapore’s Temasek to buy A S Watson from China’s Hutchison Whampoa, including its bottled water business

• $4,600 million sales from the banana merger between US Chiquita Brands and Ireland’s Fyffes

• $1,010 million for two North American bakery purchases by Switzerland’s Aryzta

• $1,000 million for Goldman Sachs and Vestar to acquire US baker Hearthside Food Solutions.

Of the 36 total, 8 were in soft drinks, 6 in alcohol, 4 in ingredients and 3 each in bakery, dairy and packaging.

18 were international and 18 within national borders. The United States took part in 14, the United Kingdom in 8, Canada and China in 4, and Italy and Switzerland in 3.