69 acquisitions in December

2018 ended with 69 food and drink company transactions recorded on the bevblog.net mergers and acquisitions database in December.

Of these, two topped $1,000 million in value:

• $3,800 million for Unilever to buy GlaxoSmithKline’s health food drinks portfolio
• $1,000 million for US-based private equity firm Elliott to purchase 2.5% of Pernod Ricard.

Among the 69 total, 14 were in soft drinks, 10 in alcohol, 7 in dairy, 6 in ingredients and 5 in meat.

35 were inside individual countries and 34 international. The United States featured in 37 overall, the United Kingdom in 12, the Netherlands in 6, France in 5 and Canada in 4.

17 were funding rounds, 4 were plant-based and 2 were for online services. Emerging sectors represented included cannabidiol, insects and nootropics.