{"id":854128,"date":"2026-03-17T09:29:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T07:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=854128"},"modified":"2026-03-17T09:40:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T07:40:45","slug":"woolworths-buys-south-african-food-giant-making-r5-billion-a-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/854128\/woolworths-buys-south-african-food-giant-making-r5-billion-a-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Woolworths buys South African food giant making R5 billion a year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Woolworths Holdings Limited plans to acquire 100% of the shares in the privately owned prepared foods manufacturer, In2food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woolworths will buy In2food from its founders, Old Mutual Private Equity (OMPE) and other exiting shareholders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In2Food is a South African-based, market-leading supplier of high-quality convenience foods and is one of Woolworths Foods’ most important suppliers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In2Food generates revenue of over R5 billion per annum through its diversified range of premium private-label products across convenience food, fresh produce, long-life, and bakery categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In2Food’s partnership and collaboration with Woolworths dates back to the early 1990s. In2Food itself was formed through the merger of Interfruit and Lombardi Foods in 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woolworths Food is In2food\u2019s largest customer, with the remaining customers comprising other local and international companies across the foodservice and wholesale channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWoolworths and In2food share a more than three-decade history of partnership in creating products of outstanding quality and innovation to meet the evolving needs of our customers,” said Woolworths Group CEO Roy Bagattini.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This acquisition represents a compelling opportunity to bring a key strategic capability closer to the Woolworths Foods business, strengthening one of the core points of differentiation in our premium food offering.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woolworths said that In2food has an experienced senior leadership team with deep multi-disciplinary expertise across the food sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The management team will continue to lead In2food as a standalone operating business within Woolworths, and aims to ensure continuity of operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWoolworths and In2food have an extended track record of close collaboration, focused on delivering high-quality, innovative food products aligned with Woolworths Foods\u2019 premium positioning,\u201d said Richard Cooper, CEO of In2food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Transaction further enhances Woolworths Foods\u2019 ability to protect product quality, innovation and availability, which are core to its differentiated customer proposition.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bagattini said the acquisition does not signal a change in Woolworths\u2019 broader food-sourcing model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur unique relationship with our suppliers is what differentiates us and is fundamental to delivering our premium food offering,” he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This transaction further enhances the relationship we have with one of our most innovative suppliers, and will extend mutual benefits to our entire value chain and end-customers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woolworths said the deal will be earnings accretive to the Woolworths Group, even before the benefits of envisaged operational efficiencies, which will be realised over time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The purchase consideration will also be settled in cash, utilising Woolworths’ existing financing facilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conclusion of the deal is subject to both regulatory and commercial suspensive conditions, including the approval from the competition authorities of South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Woolworths is acquiring one of its largest suppliers, in2food, and expects the deal to be earnings-positive from the get-go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":854136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[23783,23781,949],"class_list":["post-854128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-in2food","tag-ompe","tag-woolworths"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854128"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":854131,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854128\/revisions\/854131"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}