China's Bright Foods "eyes United Biscuits"

A deal, at roughly $3.2bn, would be the largest ever international purchase by a Chinese company in the food and beverage sector. UB makes McVities in Halifax.

The source cautioned that while he is aware that Bright Food had hired Rothschild as an adviser, he is not privy to any current negotiations between the two companies.

Shanghai-based Bright Food controls four listed companies, including Bright Dairy & Food Co.

London's Sunday Times reported on Sunday that Bright Food had pre-empted a planned auction and was in secret talks to buy the maker of McVitie's biscuits and Twiglets for between 2bn 2.5bn.

Bright Food, which recently lost a bidding war for Australian sugar refiner CSR, has diverse businesses that include a taxi business in Shanghai and the production of ham and milk.

"Bright Food is now in talks about buying United Biscuits," Chen Chunshan, a company spokesman, told Bloomberg in an interview.

Chen denied the United Biscuit talks.

Rothschild declined to comment.

Reuters reported in July that United Biscuits' owners, private equity firms Blackstone and PAI Partners, were considering selling in a deal that could fetch around 2bn.

U.S. food group Campbell Soup Co was weighing an offer, a source told Reuters in August.

A successful Bright Food bid on United Biscuit would represent the largest outbound food and beverage industry acquisition in Asia this year, according to Thomson Reuters data.

United Biscuits has some of the world's best known sweet and savory snacks, with products ranging from biscuits and crackers to cakes.

The company, which has been in business for over 100 years, has a number of well-known brands including Jacob's, Carr's, McCoy's, Hula Hoops and McVitie's Jaffa Cakes.

United Biscuits holds the leading or number two positions in its core markets of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Belgium and Ireland, according to the company web site.

It has been rapidly growing into North America and in the Middle East, Africa, and Australia.

UB grew its profit for a fifth straight year in 2009, when its EBITDA grew by 13.7 per cent to 223.4m. That year, UB notched a 5.1 per cent rise in its revenues to 1.3bn.