PepsiCo offers $1.7bn to buy South Africa’s Pioneer Foods

PepsiCo has made a $1.7 billion (1.35 billion pounds) offer to buy South Africa’s Pioneer Food Group, the companies said on Friday, boosting the target’s shares by nearly 30 per cent.
The U.S. drinks and snack group said Pioneer Food’s product portfolio was complementary and would help PepsiCo to expand in sub-Saharan Africa, by boosting its manufacturing and distribution capabilities.
PepsiCo offered 110 rand (6 pounds) per Pioneer Foods ordinary share, the companies said, with the news lifting the South African company’s shares by 28.8 per cent to almost 100 rand.
“Pioneer Foods forms an important part of our strategy to not only expand in South Africa, but further into sub-Saharan Africa as well,” PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta said in a statement.
Pioneer Foods, which has brands ranging from drinks to grain products such as Weet-Bix and Liqui-Fruit, exports to more than 80 countries.