M&A
Danone, the French food and beverage giant, has agreed to acquire Huel, the UK-based functional nutrition brand, in a deal valued at approximately €1 billion (around £855 million). Freshfields advised Danone on the transaction, while Pinsent Masons acted for Huel. Huel, founded in 2015 and best known for its meal-replacement shakes and ready-to-drink nutritional products, has built a direct-to-consumer business with a strong international footprint. The acquisition gives Danone a foothold in the fast-growing functional nutrition and consumer health segment, extending beyond its existing dairy and plant-based portfolio. The deal is structured as a full acquisition. As a cross-border transaction involving a French buyer and a UK-incorporated target, it will require standard competition clearances. Given the combined parties' market positions in functional food and nutrition, a CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) phase one review is the most likely UK regulatory step, though substantive concerns are not immediately apparent given the limited horizontal overlap. The transaction reflects broader strategic consolidation in the branded nutrition space, where legacy FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) players are acquiring digitally native challenger brands to access younger consumer demographics and higher-margin product categories. For Danone specifically, the deal follows a period of portfolio rationalisation and signals a renewed appetite for growth-stage acquisitions in health-oriented consumer categories.
Why this matters
This deal activates public M&A, corporate, and regulatory clearance workstreams simultaneously, with both Freshfields and Pinsent Masons running full SPA (share purchase agreement) processes. The CMA will conduct at least a phase one merger review given both parties' UK presence, creating demand for competition counsel alongside transaction lawyers. The 'why now' driver is structural: legacy food groups face volume pressure from health-conscious consumer shifts and are using M&A to acquire branded scale quickly rather than building organically. For City firms, consumer sector M&A of this size — with a major French buyer and London-advised target — represents exactly the cross-border mandate that Magic Circle and Silver Circle practices compete for on both sides.
On the Ground
On this matter, a trainee in the corporate team would manage CP (conditions precedent) checklist tracking across the regulatory approval timetable, coordinate Companies House filings post-completion, and assist with SPA schedule verification. On the competition side, they would prepare regulatory notification drafting for the CMA merger filing.
Interview prep
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“What CMA merger control process would this deal trigger, and what factors would the CMA assess when deciding whether to open a phase two investigation?”
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