April 11, 2023 — Inflation and higher interest rates are straining private-equity funds that used leveraged buyouts to buy into the food and beverage market in recent years.
Private-equity funds purchased 786 companies in the food and beverage space in 2021 for a combined USD 32 billion (EUR 29.5 billion). The total sunk to USD 9.7 billion (EUR 8.9 billion) through the first 11 months of 2022, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, in part due to rising inflation and interest rates and geopolitical instability.