55 acquisitions in May

55 food and drink transactions were added to the bevblog.net mergers and acquisitions database in May. 4 were over $500 million:

• $1,500 million for the initial public offering of meat-free Beyond Meat in the United States

• $1,000 million for Japan’s SoftBank private equity arm to purchase Colombia’s Rappi food delivery business

• $575 million for Amazon and others to buy into the UK-based Deliveroo food delivery service

• $510 million for Sealed Air to take over Automated Packaging Systems in the United States.

Among the 55 total, 9 were in alcohol, 5 in ingredients and soft drinks, 4 in CBD and packaging, and 3 each in dairy, food delivery and meat-free.

A substantial 13 fell into new categories that had not been significant 5 years ago – 4 in CBD, 3 in food delivery, 3 in meat-free, 2 in plant-based and 1 in meal kits.

An even higher 15 were funding rounds of some kind.

Out of 21 countries affected, the United States had stakes in 25, the United Kingdom in 14, Canada in 7 and France in 4. 33 were inside national borders, 19 of these in the United States, 9 in the United Kingdom and 3 in Canada.