Irish food company, Valeo Foods, is buying UK Tangerine Confectionery for £100 million (US$127.6 million) from private equity firm Blackstone. The acquisition will see famous sweet brands like Dip Dab, Fruit Salad and Blackjack come under Valeo's control.

The merger will see the Barratt, Dip Dab and Fruit Salad confectionery brands to Valeo’s Big Bear Confectionery portfolio, which Valeo acquired from Raisio in 2017 for €100 million. The deal will bring Valeo's annual revenues up to €900m.

Big Bear Confectionery already owns food brands across Europe, with Balconi in Italy in its portfolio alongside, Odlums, Batchelors, Kelkin, Robert Roberts, Fox’s Glacier Mints and Poppets. This new acquisition is expected to further enhance Valeo’s position in the UK’s confectionery market, according to the company.

As a result, Valeo has added Tangerine’s five UK confectionery production sites in Liverpool, York, Blackpool, Pontefract and Cleckheaton to its UK production network.

Just last year, Tangerine sold its Butterkist popcorn brand to KP Snacks for an undisclosed amount, as the company said that it wanted to focus on developing its core confectionery business.

Valeo currently operates in 90 markets worldwide.

Sky News, which reported the Valeo-Tangerine deal, said it was likely that the Big Bear and Tangerine businesses would be combined.

Earlier this year, following an agreement to divest its confectionery business to Valeo Foods, Raisio confirmed the business has been transferred. Raisio had agreed to sell its confectionery business to Valeo, where Raisio's sweets business in the UK and the Czech Republic became part of Valeo's business.