Sysco to buy US Foods from private equity for US$3.5bil

NEW YORK:  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. food distributors and create a company commanding at least a quarter of the $235 billion North American market.

Sysco, whose shares jumped as much as 25 percent to a record high on Monday, touted the combination of its supply chain expertise with the strong consumer-facing technologies of US Foods as a key driver for the deal, which creates a company with revenue of $65 billion.