United Biscuits
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United Biscuits is a British multinational food manufacturer, owned by Finalrealm, a syndicate including Cinven.
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[edit] Origin
United Biscuits was formed in 1948 from the merger between McVitie & Price and MacFarlane Lang. The company now manufactures in a number of countries across Europe, such as the Netherlands, France, Belgium. It recently sold its southern european business back to Kraft which in turn left the owner syndicate.
[edit] Location
The company's headquarters are in Hayes, Middlesex. The core of the business is in the United Kingdom, where it produces biscuits, crisps and other snacks under a number of brand names including: McVitie's (biscuits), KP (nuts), Hula Hoops (snacks), McCoy's (crisps), Phileas Fogg (crisps), Jacob's (cream crackers) and Simmers. It acquired Carr's of Carlisle in 1972, including the Water biscuits. It also produces own brand products for supermarkets.
The company's main UK distribution centre is at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where it also has a factory manufacturing KP Snacks.
[edit] Acquisitions
United Biscuits owned the Wimpy Bar fast food restaurant chain between 1977 and 1989. It also previously owned the Pizzaland chain and the frozen and chilled food companies Youngs (sold to become Youngs Bluecrest) and Ross (sold to H. J. Heinz Company).[citation needed]
In September 2004 UB bought the UK company Jacob's from Danone, drastically increasing its market share in the UK and increasing its estimated turnover to around £1bn.[citation needed]
The United Biscuits Network was a radio network serving their factories across the UK. It folded in 1979, but spawned the career of UK radio presenter Steve Allen and TV and radio personality Dale Winton.
[edit] Selloff
In October 2006, UB announced that it would be sold in its entirety to a consortium made up of the Blackstone Group and PAI. It was then confirmed in December 2006 that the deal had been completed.
