Over 1,100 food and drink acquisitions in 2021 News | Industry Updates
The year 2021 was a record year for food and drink industry transactions, with 1,116 registered on the Zenith Global mergers and acquisitions database, an average of 21 each week.. The total is 34% more than in 2020 and
79% higher than five years ago. The number has risen every year since a dip in 2013. Funding rounds for early stage businesses have become an increasingly important element. The most active sectors were ingredients
on 97, packaging on 96, soft drinks on 56 and dairy on 54. The top 15 sectors saw some significant changes in 2021. Packaging, plant-based and vertical farming deals more than doubled, with plant-based rising nine places to the top 5. Meat-free entered the top 10, outpacing meat.
Biggest buyers and sellers in 2021
Archer Daniels Midland, Berlin Packaging, Bimbo, Culligan, Heineken, JBS, Nestlé, Orkla, Pernod Ricard, Primo and Waterlogic were the most acquisitive food and drink companies in 2021. According to the Zenith Global food and drink transactions database, the companies were each responsible for five or more takeovers. Azelis, Brenntag, Diageo, Kerry, Oterra and Saputo all made four purchases. Aryzta, Coca-Cola, Danone and Ebro Foods each agreed three. GrubMarket concluded 3 funding rounds. Denmark, France and Ireland were the biggest net buyers (+9), followed by the Netherlands (+6) and Austria (+5). The United Kingdom was the main net seller (-40), followed by
the United States (-18), Australia (-17), Spain (-15), China (-12), Israel (-9) and India (-8).
46 acquisitions over $1 billion in 2021
Of the record 1,116 food and drink transactions registered on the Zenith Global mergers and acquisitions database for 2021, 46 involved sums of $1,000 million or more. This is more than twice the number reported in 2020 and 13
higher than the previous peak of 33 in 2017. The $71 billion combined value of the top 10 was ahead of the
$60 billion top 10 of 2020 and close to the $72 billion top 10 of 2019, but less than 20% of the $365 billion top 10 of 2015. The 46 over $1 billion totalled $135 billion, compared with $79
billion for the 19 over $1 billion in 2021, $90 billion for the 24 over $1 billion in 2019 and $403 billion for the 27 over $1 billion in 2015. Notably, three of the 2021 top five were IPOs, with Deliveroo and Oatly both achieving valuations of $10 billion or more.
vendinginternational-online.com | 5 Vertical farming, food delivery and CBD
moved up to the top 15, while services, water drinks and beer dropped out. The combination of plant-based (48),
meat-free (41), cell-based (24), dairy-free (20), alcohol-free (10) and plant-based seafood (5) would make free-from by far the biggest category overall on 148, 13% of the total. Water drinks (23) and water dispense (18), when taken together at 41, would come 8th. Five categories had declared transaction
values in excess of $10 billion. These were packaging, food delivery, ingredients, plant- based and dairy. Eight more categories exceeded $5 billion
– fresh produce, nutrition, meat, soft drinks, snacks, equipment, water drinks and tea. Meat-free surpassed $2 billion, while
vertical farming and cell-based both exceeded $1 billion.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28
