US group Ingredion has struck a deal to buy Britain's Tate & Lyle for £2.7 billion in cash to create a leading speciality food and beverage ingredients company.
The deal underscores how food companies are reshaping portfolios to tap demand for lower-sugar, higher-protein and functional products with added health and nutrition benefits, even as weak consumer sentiment weighs on near-term growth.
Tate & Lyle shareholders will receive 595 pence per share in cash, a premium of nearly 59% to the last closing before talks were disclosed in mid-May, plus 20 pence in dividends. The deal values the British group at £3.8 billion including debt.
Tate & Lyle, which started as a sugar refinery in the 1850s, sold its eponymous sugar brand in 2010 to ASR Inc. to focus on sweeteners such as the zero-calorie Splenda brand used by Coca-Cola.
Its 2024 acquisition of CP Kelco expanded it into plant-based ingredients.
Combined with Ingredion, the business will be worth about $9.9 billion and focus on ingredients that improve texture, cut sugar and boost nutrients, as food makers target demand for flavour and fibre, including amid the rise of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs.Ingredion makes sweeteners and starches, as well as ingredients used in paper, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
In 2024, private equity firm Advent International was reported to be preparing a takeover bid for Tate & Lyle, but no offer materialised.
A wave of foreign bids has put Britain on track for a record year for dealmaking in 2026, with buyers attracted in part by comparatively cheap UK valuations.