Weetabix sale puts it back in cereal pack
Post acquires UK favourite from China’s Bright Food
London/Shanghai/New York — US company Post Holdings is buying Weetabix from China’s Bright Food Group for £1.4bn, putting the British breakfast favourite back into the hands of a cereal company. Post said on Tuesday the combination would help its own brands, which include Honey Bunches of Oats and Grape-Nuts, to expand overseas, while allowing for greater distribution of Weetabix and its Barbara’s brand in North America. The sale comes just five years after Chinese state-owned Bright Food took control of Weetabix in a deal that valued it at £1.2bn at the time of a major overseas push stretching from Australia to Israel. The brand has struggled to grow significantly since as cold cereals in western markets face more competition from breakfast bars, Greek yogurts and fast-food chains. Concerns over the sugar content of some cereals has also hit sales of such products. The Weetabix brand had global retail sales of $310m in 2016, according to Euromonitor International, up only 1.4% from...
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