54 acquisitions in April

The pace of acquisitions accelerated in April, with 54 food and drink industry transactions recorded on the bevblog.net database.

3 topped $1,000 million in value:

• $3,420 million for Luxembourg-based Ardagh to buy selected can manufacturing facilities from US-based Ball.

• £1,910 million in sales for the new Froneri ice cream joint venture between Swiss-based Nestlé and UK-based R&R Ice Cream.

• $2,500 million for the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to take a 40% stake in Swiss-based Glencore’s agribusiness.

Out of the 54 total, 13 were in alcohol, 10 in soft drinks, 5 in meat, 5 in packaging, 4 in dairy and 4 in ingredients.

With 25 countries involved, the United States featured in 28, the United Kingdom in 14, Australia in 6, Belgium in 3 and China in 3. 29 were cross-border and 25 inside national boundaries – 16 in the United States.