82 Acquisitions in February

82 transactions were recorded in February for the Zenith Global international food and drink mergers and acquisitions database.

A spectacular 6 of them were worth over $1,000 million, including 2 involving sums over $5,000 million.

• $9,700 million sales in fresh produce for US based Dole, where Ireland’s Total Produce increased its stake from 45% to 82.5%
• $8,500 million value in packaging for Ireland’s Ardagh to undertake an 80:20 merger of its metal packaging business with Gores and others
• $4,700 million in ingredients for Bain and Cinven to buy Swiss based Lonza’s speciality ingredients business
• $4,300 million in water drinks for One Rock and Metropoulos private equity to purchase Swiss based Nestlé’s North America water business
• $3,350 million in snacks for Hormel Foods to acquire Kraft Heinz’s nuts business in the United States
• $1,100 million in alcohol for Uber to take on the Drizly online delivery service in the United States.

Among the 82, 9 were in alcohol, 8 in snacks, 7 in packaging, 6 in soft drinks, 5 in ingredients, 5 in meat, 5 in nutrition, 5 in services, 4 in alcohol-free, 4 in food delivery and 4 in fresh produce.

49 were inside individual countries, 27 of these in the United States, 9 in the United Kingdom, 6 in Canada and 3 in France. 33 were international, across 25 countries.

Out of the 82 total, the United States featured in 44, the United Kingdom in 14, Canada in 8, France in 7, Ireland in 5 and Italy in 4.