The huge flow of money to emerging markets is going big-cap.
PepsiCo.'s acquisition of Wimm-Bill-Dann Produkty in Russia, at $4.1-billion (U.S.) is the biggest non-financial deal ever for a U.S. company buying in an emerging market.
The PepsiCo announcement follows close on the heels of Abbot Laboratories decision to put $3.7-billion into India to buy Piramal Healthcare Ltd.'s solutions business and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s plan to buy control of a South African retailer for $2-billion.
With the U.S. slowing, the race is on to find growth in faster-expanding markets like the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). Until lately, much of the action was in financial services, especially big Chinese banks that were looking for investors.
Here's a breakdown of the top deals buy U.S. buyers in emerging markets, courtesy of Thomson Reuters.
1. Citigroup buys a stake in Mexican banking firm Banacci for $12.8-billion. (2001)
2. Bank of America Corp. invests $7.1-billion in China Construction Bank. (2008)
3. PepsiCo agrees to buy Wimm-Bill-Dann of Russia. (2010)
4. Berkshire Hathaway agrees to buy Israeli machinery maker Iscar for $4-billion. (2006)
5. Investor group puts $3.8-billion into Chinese financial services giant ICBC. (2006)
6. Abbott buys healthcare solutions group of India's Piramal for $3.7-billion. (2010)
7. Bain Capital buys south African retailer Edgars Consolidated for $3.5-billion. (2007)
8. An investor group puts $3.1-billion into China's Guangdong Development bank. (2006)
9. Citigroup invests $3.1-billion in Turkey's Akbank TAS.
10. Marvell Technology Group buys Israeli chip company Galileo Technology for $2.5-billion (2000).