Associated British Foods has acquired New Zealand bagel maker Abe’s Bagels through its regional subsidiary George Weston Foods.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
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The deal was confirmed in a LinkedIn post by Catherine Parlane, the general manager of sales and marketing at the private-equity-backed Abe’s Bagels.
“I’m proud to share that Abe’s Bagels has been acquired by George Weston Foods,” she wrote, adding that the brand holds around 75% of the bagel market across Australia and New Zealand, generating more than NZ$50m (US$29.7m) in revenue.
Abe’s Bagels was set up in 1996 and, prior to its sale to ABF, was owned by private-equity firms Marmont Capital and Altered Capital.
Just Food has contacted ABF for a comment on the deal.
George Weston Foods is one of Australia and New Zealand’s largest food manufacturers, employing more than 6,000 people across 60 sites, according to its website.
The group owns local bakery brands including Tip Top and Abbotts Bakery.
The acquisition comes as London-listed ABF prepares a wider overhaul of its structure.
In April, the group said it would split its food operations from retailer Primark into two separately listed FTSE companies by the end of 2027.
Group chief executive George Weston said at the time the demerger would create “the only FTSE-100 pure-play food producer”.
Weston added: “We built a differentiated, really quite different global food group that operates across multiple parts of the food-supply chain. It gives us resilience. It positions us well for long-term structural growth trends that we see in food demand.
“At the heart of the business are strong brands and ingredients platforms. We inevitably, because we just do, have a well invested asset base. These characteristics will allow us effectively to compete and to grow. In turn, it will enable us to deliver attractive, sustainable returns to shareholders.”
ABF is also pursuing the acquisition of UK bakery business Hovis, announced last August and still under competition review.
