Sysco to Acquire US Foods

Sysco Corp. will buy US Foods, Inc., for about $3.5 billion from its private equity owners in a deal that will combine the top two U.S. foodservice distribution firms and create a company with annual revenues of around $65 billion, more than a quarter of the $235 billion North American market, reports Reuters. Sysco will also assume debt of about $4.7 billion in the deal.

Sysco CEO Bill DeLaney in a conference call with analysts said Sysco now has an 18 percent share of the market, while US Foods has nine percent. The deal raises antitrust concerns but DeLaney in the call argued that there are some 15,000 companies in the U.S. food distribution industry.