Food & Drink 1997 - Company News Summary

M&J Seafoods is to set up five new depots around the country, creating 220 jobs, with £6m of funding being provided by Lloyds Development Capital.
08-Dec-1997

Harrisons & Crosfield has sold Edward Baker Petfoods to Ralston Purina Company of the US for £106m, in order to focus on its core speciality chemicals business.
06-Dec-1997

United Biscuits is selling its snacks businesses in Australia and France to PepsiCo, in return for Biscuiterie Nantaise, PepsiCo's French biscuit business, and £241m.
18-Nov-1997

Albert Fisher has sold Roem, its Dutch seafood operation, to a management team for £21m, and will use the proceeds to buy back some of its shares in a capital restructuring.
08-Nov-1997

Cadbury Schweppes is to acquire La Pie Qui Chante, the French sugar sweets maker, from Danone for undisclosed terms, a move which will make it the third largest confectionery company in France.
24-Oct-1997

Gardner Merchant Services has acquired Lawson Beaumont, the events catering company, from Break for the Border for £2.5m.
24-Oct-1997

Unilever has acquired Kibon, the largest ice cream maker in Brazil, from Philip Morris for £570m, and will use the business as its ice cream "innovation centre" in Latin America.
21-Oct-1997

Guinness and Grand Metropolitan have received European Commission approval for their planned £24bn merger, on the condition that they sell their Dewar's and Ainslie's whisky brands in Europe and make some changes to their distribution agreements.
16-Oct-1997

Milk Marque has acquired Aeron Valley Cheese, the south Wales cheese producer, for under £10m, but the move has been described as an "abuse of monopoly power" by the Dairy Industry Federation.
08-Oct-1997

IAWS, the Irish flour and feeds concern, has acquired Cuisine de France, the specialist breads manufacturer that serves retailers in the UK and Ireland, for £46m.
07-Oct-1997

Tomkins has acquired Golden West Foods, the producer of hamburger buns, syrups and ketchup, for £70m.
04-Oct-1997

Acatos & Hutcheson has acquired Leon Frenkel, the edible oil bottler, for £8m.
01-Oct-1997

Hillsdown is selling seven food products and packaging businesses to Cinven, the venture capital concern, for £53.6m, following its decision to exit from red meat and focus on poultry, chilled and ambient foods.
01-Oct-1997

Geest, the chilled convenience foods company, has begun a £40m capital expenditure programme to open four new factories in Biggleswade, Bourne, Harrow and Milton Keynes, creating 1,000 jobs.
19-Sep-1997

Morland has acquired Ruddles, the real ale brewery, from Grolsch for £8.4m.
13-Sep-1997

John Lusty is to acquire Wunderbar, the luxury snacks company, funded by the £2.3m raised from a rights issue.
13-Sep-1997

Tulip International of Denmark is planning a £12m meat slicing plant in Wellingborough, but will close its two Merseyside plants.
28-Aug-1997

Shippam, the fish paste company, has been sold to a management team backed by NatWest Ventures for about £15m, and now plans to launch new fillings, canned chicken and ready meals.
25-Aug-1997

Hazlewood Foods has acquired R&B Group, the ready meals business, for about £7.4m.
14-Aug-1997

Danisco of Denmark has made a £36.6m recommended offer to acquire Borthwicks, the food flavourings company.
09-Aug-1997

Dairy Crest has bought Anglia Dairies from Anglia Regional Co-operative Society for £4.6m.
05-Aug-1997

Hibernia Foods of Dublin has acquired Majestic Food Group, the UK frozen desserts company that trades as Sweet 'n Savoury Frozen Foods.
01-Aug-1997

Sims Food is selling its retail red meat business to Dawn of Ireland for £12.1m, incurring a £31m loss on disposal, in order to focus on its expanding fast food business.
29-Jul-1997

International Cuisine, the Singapore Food Industries subsidiary, is setting up a new plant in Consett to make chilled ready meals, creating 130 jobs.
04-Jul-1997

HJ Heinz has acquired John West Foods, the canned fish company, from Unilever.
01-Jul-1997

S Daniels is acquiring Globekirk, the tea company, for £2.3m, and Eurogran, the Danish supplier of beverage ingredients, for £5.6m.
27-Jun-1997

Compass is buying SHRM, the French food service company, for £227m, increasing its market share from 12% to 19% and giving it its first foothold in Canada and Australia.
24-Jun-1997

ED&F Man is selling its cocoa processing business to Archer-Daniels-Midland of the US for £135m, but retains its cocoa sourcing and cocoa merchanting operations.
21-Jun-1997

Princes, the Mitsubishi subsidiary, has acquired the Barber Springdale soft drinks business from Hillsdown, which has assets of £13.6m.
14-Jun-1997

Albert Fisher is acquiring Howard Long International, the Norfolk-based supplier of prepared lettuce to McDonald's, for £27m.
04-Jun-1997

Avonmore and Waterford have agreed to merge, creating the largest milk company in Ireland and the UK and a "significant international food company".
28-May-1997

Booker is selling its prepared foods business to a management buy-in for £57m, in order to reduce debt and focus on its core food services business.
21-May-1997

Compass has acquired National Leisure Catering, the food service group which includes Wembley and the Oval among its customers, for £11m.
16-May-1997

Grand Metropolitan and Guinness are planning to merge to create the largest spirits and wine group in the world, which will be called GMG Brands and valued at £24bn.
13-May-1997

Lonrho is selling its 94% stake in Lonrho Sugar Corporation to Illovo Sugar of South Africa for £227m, in order to reduce debt and prepare for a restructuring.
09-May-1997

Scotia Haven has acquired Whitworths, the baking ingredients business, from Napier Brown for £44m, and now aims to launch dried fruit products into the snacks market.
08-May-1997

ED&F Man is acquiring the worldwide molasses business of Cargill for £60m in a move which will make Man the world leader.
27-Feb-1997

St Merryn Meat is to set up a £21m abattoir and meat processing plant at Merthyr Tydfil, creating 660 jobs.
21-Jan-1997