United Biscuits could be sold to Chinese firm

United Biscuits, which owns the McVities and Jaffa Cakes brands, could be sold to Chinese manufacturing group Bright Foods, according to reports.

The Sunday Times reported that Bright Foods is in “secret talks” to buy United Biscuits for between £2bn and £2.5bn.

The deal, if it goes ahead, would be the biggest international purchase by a Chinese company in the food and drink sector.

The firm was put up for sale by private equity owners Blackstone and PAI earlier this year.

Firms including American Campbell Soup, Nestle, PepsiCo, Kellogg’s and Kraft have all been tipped as possible bidders.

United Biscuits is the UK’s largest biscuit producer and generated sales of £1.3bn and profit of £223m last year.

Earlier this year United Biscuits launched its McVities VIP Club, a collect and reward scheme for consumers.

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