Food Processing M&A Activity Down 19.4% in 2018

There were 152 mergers and acquisitions of food processors last year, according to the Food Institute’s Food Business Mergers & Acquisitions report. That represents a 19.4% decrease from 2017.

Meanwhile, food industry retail M&A increased almost 40% and restaurant M&A stayed about the same. Overall, the industry saw 527 total deals, a decrease of about 11%.

In 2017, deal activity reached a 15-year high. However, the deals weren’t huge. Food Processing pointed out that most acquisitions were big companies purchasing smaller niche ones, and there were no eight-figure deals.

In 2018, that trend reversed. At $10.9 billion, Conagra’s purchase of Pinnacle Foods was one of the food industry’s biggest deals of all time, while on the grocery side, Sainsbury acquired Asda for $10 billion.

Here’s the breakdown of deals by state and city.

State:

1. California (44)
2. Illinois (28)
3. Texas (21)
4. New York (19)
5. Colorado (15)
6. Wisconsin (15)

City:

1. Chicago (12)
2. New York (11)
3. Los Angeles (7)
4. San Francisco (6)
5. Denver (5)
6. Minneapolis (5)