Tate & Lyle has agreed to sell a controlling stake in its commercial sweeteners division in the Americas to KPS Capital Partners in a $1.3bn deal as the food group pivots towards healthier products (The Financial Times £).
Tate & Lyle will be broken up with a deal to sell a controlling stake in its sweetener division as it focuses on a boom in demand for healthy eating accelerated by the pandemic (The Telegraph).
Tate & Lyle and KPS Capital Partners, an American buyout firm, will each own a 50% stake in the primary products unit (The Times £). The business, which also makes commercial starches used in cardboard, is the biggest revenue driver for the company, generating £1.68bn, or 60% of group sales, last year.
The listed company left behind will focus entirely on its higher growth food and drink solutions business, which helps the likes of Cadbury and Nestle replace sugar, salt and fats in their products (The Mail).
The Lex column in The Financial Times (£) says the deal looks like a creative carve out rather than a typical buyout firm slash and burn.
Uber has appointed a former executive at Tesco to lead its expanding European delivery arm as the ride-hailing company tries to muscle in on the rapid-delivery grocery sector (The Times £). Eve Henrikson, who has spent six years as the supermarket’s online director, will become general manager for Uber Delivery in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Only the fittest will survive high street cull, warns Itsu and Pret founder Julian Metcalfe (The Telegraph). Retail magnate fears ‘rocketing’ food costs and ‘perilous’ staffing shortages will lead to even more empty shops in cities and towns.
The retail and hospitality sectors have demanded greater clarity from the government on Covid-19 safety guidelines after restrictions are lifted in England on 19 July, amid confusion over mask-wearing and vaccine passport checks (The Guardian).
An opinion piece in The Financial Times (£) says the government must impose a sugar tax on food to tackle obesity. “From traffic-light labels to challenge prizes, these pragmatic measures can save lives and stop ballooning health expenditures,” the paper writes.
Almond milk and avocados are “disastrous for the environment” and vegans who buy them instead of British meat and dairy should consider the impact of their diets, according to Adam Henson, the farmer and Countryfile presenter (The Times £).
UK retail sales grew at their fastest rate since records began in the second quarter, driven by loosening lockdown restrictions, Euro 2020 football championships and the release of pent-up demand, industry data showed (The Financial Times £).
The unlocking of the economy following the winter lockdown led to the fastest quarterly growth on record in shopping in stores and online, according to the latest snapshot of consumer spending behaviour by the British Retail Consortium (The Guardian).
Philip Morris International has vowed to introduce employee incentive plans “in keeping with private equity ownership” and has made pledges over jobs and sites as part of its agreed takeover of Vectura, which has triggered a backlash from anti-smoking charities and politicians (The Times £).
Young’s confirmed its withdrawal from the tenanted pub sector yesterday after announcing the sale of the majority of the Ram Pub Company for £53m (The Times £).
Food industry shows growing appetite for green finance with a surge of sustainability-linked loans (The Financial Times £).
The economic fallout from the pandemic and rapidly rising food prices have fuelled a sharp increase in the number of people going hungry around the world, according to the UN (The Financial Times £).
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