United Biscuits

United Biscuits was founded in 1948, following the merger of two Scottish family businesses — McVitie and Price and MacFarlane Lang and Co.

• 1960, United Biscuits added to its portfolio with the acquisition of Crawford's Biscuits and MacDonald's Biscuits. A summary of our development since then is given below. (Unless otherwise stated, each represents an acquisition of 100%.)

• 1967 Meredith and Drew, a UK crisp manufacturer.

• 1968 Kenyon, Son and Craven, a leading UK nut manufacturer.

• 1974 Keebler Company, a leading US cookie and cracker manufacturer, subsequently sold to a number of buyers in 1995.

• 1982 Terry's of York, the confectionery company, subsequently sold to Kraft Suchard in 1993.

• 1988 Ross Young's, a leader in the UK frozen food sector. 60% stake in United Biscuits China, with a further 30% stake bought in 1991.

• 1990 Verkade, a leading biscuit and confectionery company in the Netherlands

• 1991 Investment in three leading European biscuit companies: Fazer Biscuits (Finland), Oxford Biscuits (Denmark) and Gyori Keksz (Hungary). Joint venture also established in Éire

• 1993 The Smith's Snackfood Company, Australia's leading snackfood manufacturer incorporating a snacks business in Italy. Derwent Valley Foods, the UK owner of the Phileas Fogg snack brand. Further investment in Oxford Biscuits (Denmark) and Gyori Keksz (Hungary) taking investments to 100%.

• 1994 Further investment in Fazer Biscuits (Finland), taking the investment to 70%, San, a Polish biscuit manufacturer taking investment to 90%, and Nibb-It Snacks, a Dutch snackfood manufacturer.

• 1995 The Original Pretzel Company, Australia.

• 1997 Acquisition of the French biscuits business, Biscuiterie Nantaise (BN), from PepsiCo. Inc. in exchange for certain continental European snack operations and the sale to PepsiCo. Inc. of The Smiths Snackfood Company, Australia. UB receives a net consideration of £241 million.

• 1998 Acquisition of the Continental European Biscuit Business, Delacre, from the Campbell Soup Company for £125m. Delacre has operations in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and exports to the USA. Meiji McVitie, UB buys out Meiji's 50% stake of the venture to form a new company, UB Japan Ltd.1999 Merger of UB's Young's seafood business with Legal & General Ventures Bluecrest to create the largest seafood business in the UK. UB and LGV (and its associates) each hold 44% of equity of the business. Management and other finance providers will hold the balance.

• 1999 (September) Acquired certain biscuit operations from German confectionery company, Stollwerck. UB receives Stollerck's Hungarian biscuit business and appoints Stollwerck as its sales and distribution agent in Germany.1999(October) Binding agreement reached with HJ Heinz Company for the sale of UB's frozen and chilled food businesses (excluding chilled fish operation) for a price of £190 m payable on completion. Regulatory clearance granted 7th December.

• 1999 (November) Sale of UB's Grimsby-based chilled fish business to Northern Foods. The operation supplies added-value seafood products to Marks & Spencer and Waitrose.

• 2000 (April) UB was bought by Finalrealm, a consortium of investors, and reverted to private limited company status.

Sources of Information

• [1] United Biscuits Website