Acquisitions in the global food and beverage industry hit record levels last year according to business research firm Zenith International.
The number of acquisitions, 563, was well above the previous year, according to the Richard Hall, chairman of Zenith International, and compiler of the bevblog.net mergers and acquisitions database.
"This is an average of more than 10 per week and 17 per cent above the level of 2013," Hall said.
The total compares with 466 in 2011, 520 in 2012 and 481 in 2013.
In Australia, acquisitions last year included the sale of Longwarry Food Park to Parmalat, and the acquistion of Primo by JBS Australia, Five:am's sale to PZ Cussons, Wilmar and First Pacific's acquisition of Goodman Fielder, Peters Food Group's sale to R&R Ice Cream, and the purchase of Mundella Foods by Bright Food Group.
According to Zenith, the highest number of acquisitions occurred in packaging (68), dairy (63), general food (51), soft drinks (48) and ingredients (47).
"The biggest changes were a leap in transactions for packaging (+33), back to its leadership position held in 2012, in confectionery (+14) and soft drinks (+13), with the major falls being in wine (-10) and spirits (-8). Water cooler deals slipped from 13 to 11 and fruit juice from 13 to 10," Hall said.
