US Weetabix owner: We will use British farmers
THE American buyer of Chinese-owned Weetabix plans to use the takeover to help sell more of its own cereals in Britain, but has moved to calm fears that the buyout comes at the expense of UK jobs and business.
Last week, it was announced that Weetabix was being bought in a £1.4 billion deal by one of America’s leading cereal groups, Post Holdings, raising fears for the British firm.
The effect of foreign takeovers on UK firms has been a matter of public concern since the 2009 buyout of Cadbury by US giant Kraft, which – despite pledges to the contrary – resulted in a factory closing. Safeguards for UK firms in future takeovers have already been highlighted as an issue by the Prime Minister.
But Rob Vitale, head of Post, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Post has zero production facilities in the UK, and our objective is to grow Weetabix. So while all employers look at productivity and ways to reduce costs we don’t have a situation in which we have duplicate facilities.’
Vitale, who earned $18 million (£14 million) last year, said the stronger buying power of a larger group could cut costs in areas such as packaging and business services. Savings would be used to boost sales of Weetabix and its sister brands Alpen and Ready Brek.
He also said of the buyout: ‘It gives us the opportunity to take select Post products and distribute them through the Weetabix sales force.’ Vitale moved to calm fears he would renege on Weetabix’s pledge to buy wheat from farms near its plant. Since 2010 Weetabix, which has 1,800 staff at its two Northamptonshire sites, has sourced all its wheat from within 50 miles of its factory at Burton Latimer, buying an estimated 100,000 tons from 300 farms.
‘When you look at something as essential as the agricultural commodity upon which products are based, we would be very naive to try to change that,’ Vitale said.