Ten corporations that control the global food market

The introduction of food sanctions against Western countries forced Russia to ask the question: who sells us food and who ultimately benefits from our trips to the store, in addition to retailer networks?

Slon collected 10 largest grocery corporations and found out the structure of their property. Interestingly, most of the shares of these companies belong to various intitual funds, with minority shares. Only Mars is still in private ownership, the Associated British Foods is more than half belongs to one fund, in Kellogg the largest package of 24%, in other cases, shareholders are less than 10%.

The Associated British Foods (ABF) is the second manufacturer in the world of sugar and bakery yeast, the company is one of the main suppliers of important food ingredients, including emulsifiers, enzymes and lactose.

In February 2013, the company was forced to abandon the “illegal and immoral” tax evasion. The corporation was accused of washing income in Zambia for nothing.

54.5% ABF belongs to Wittington Investment, which, in turn, are 79.2% owned by the Garfield Weston Foundation (GWF). GWF is the largest charitable organization of Great Britain, one fifth fund belongs to the Weston family.

Coca-Cola is one of the most expensive brands in the world. In total, the company's sales amounted to $ 47 billion in the last financial year, half fell on the flagship soda. The concern is the largest world manufacturer and supplier of concentrates, syrup and soft drinks. The company is included in the S&P 500. According to Yahoo !!!! Finance, 67% of shares in 1.3 thousand various kinds of investor organizations. The largest investor is the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Foundation, which owns 8.61%.

The French dairy company has taken root very well in Russia, for it this market is even larger than her native. The group belongs to 57.7% of Unimilk. Group Danone is the world's largest seller of dairy products: it amounted to more than half of the total sales of the company in 2013. Danone is also one of the world's largest sellers of baby food and bottled water. 80% of the shares of companies are in free circulation, 5% in their own management. Danone is famous for actively engaged in the introduction of green technologies and makes a lot of efforts to reduce the load on the environment.

General Mills owns a number of the most famous American food brands: Green Giant, Hägen-Dazs, Pillsbury, Colombo Yogurt, Betty Croecker, Yoplait, Totinos, Cheerios, Trix, etc. General Mills products are produced in 15 countries And sold in more than a hundred. Breakfast flakes, yogurt, frozen dough, canned soups, pizza, ice cream, soy products, vegetables, flour, etc. History received a wide publicity when the company's management spent more than a million dollars to prevent the law on mandatory marking of genetically modified potatoes in California. About 70% of the company's shares belongs to about a thousand institutional investors, including the State Street Corp., Vanguard Group, Barclays Global Investors Uk Holding Ltd.

Among the leading food companies, Kellogg is the smallest revenue in size. In 2013, sales turnover amounted to about $ 15 billion. The company specializes in dry breakfasts and fast -cooking foods. According to his own data, Kellogg leading bakery in the world and the second largest manufacturer of cookies. The largest shareholder of the company is the WK Kellogg Foundation charity foundation with a share of about 24%. It is included in the S&P 500 list.

Mars produces, in addition to the Batonchik of the same name, M&MS, Milky Way, Snickers and Twix. The company also owns the brands of Uncle Ben's and Wrigley, Whiskas and Pedigree. The company has several factories in Russia. Mars - the only one among food giants is in private property. The shares are distributed between the three grandchildren of Frank Mars. The closing of the company from the press does not allow you to accurately represent the degree of participation of the Mars family in business management, however, it is known that John and Forrest Mars formally resigned and transferred the management of the current CEO Paul Michaels. Ecologists have many complaints about the company's activities.

In 2012, the Kraft Foods giant was divided into two independent companies: Kraft Foods Group and Mondelez. In the first, grocery American brands remained, the second was the global brands of snacks, chocolate, sweets and coffee: Oreo, Tuc, Club Social, Barni, Trident, Halls, Cadbury, Milka, Lacta, Toblerone, Alpen Gold, Jacobs, Jacobs, Jacobs, Jacobs, Jacobs, Jacobs Carte Noire and many others. In 2013, the company had more than $ 35 billion revenue under capitalization of more than $ 72 billion. 99.74%of the shares are free, the largest institutional investors - BlackRock (5.86%), State Street (4.83%), Vanguard Group (4.32%).

Nestle is the largest food corporation in the world: in all respects, it by more than one and a half times bypasses the closest pursuer - Unilever. The company produces soluble coffee, mineral water, chocolate, ice cream, broths, dairy products, baby food, pets food, pharmaceutical products and cosmetics. More than 2000 trademarks at 461 factories in 83 countries. Nestle has about 250 thousand shareholders. The largest share of Norges Bank Investment Management is 2.78%. About 40% belongs to Swiss investors.

In addition to famous lemonade brands, Pepsico owns a number of grocery brands. The company is one of the largest advertisers in the world. Advertising Age estimated the expenses of the corporation in this area in 2012 at $ 2.5 billion. Pepsico is much inferior to Nestle in terms of revenue, but the word of five letters, as well as suns-Cola, is one of the most expensive brands in the world. After a series of acquisitions, the Russian branch of the corporation became the largest grocery manufacturer in our country. 70% of the company's papers are distributed between many institutional funds. The largest package of Vanguard Group is almost 6%.

Unilever is not quite a food company. A larger segment of its products is personal hygiene and household chemicals. Nevertheless, about a third of the revenue accounts for food and drinks. These are brands such as Lipton, Brooke Bond, Conversation, Calve, Rama, Creme Bonjour and others.

8.6% of the company's shares belongs to her herself, the rest of the packages, from one and a half percent and lower, are distributed between investment funds. In the forefront among the holders of papers - Norges Bank Investment Management and Vanguard Group.