Snackimals

Weetabix Ltd

Type	Private
Industry	Breakfast cereal
Founded	1932
Headquarters	Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, UK
Area served	Europe, North America
Key people	CEO: Giles Turrel Chairman: Sir Richard George
Products	Weetabix, Alpen, Ready Brek
Owner	Bright Food (60%) Baring Private Equity Asia (40%)
Number of employees	c. 2,000
Website	Weetabix Limited

Weetabix Ltd., trading under the name Weetabix Food Company and commonly referred to as simply Weetabix, is a food processing company that is responsible for the production of breakfast cereal brands, including Weetabix, Alpen, and Ready Brek. The company also produces Puffins cereal and Snackimals snacks through their Barbara's Bakery division.

Founded in England in 1932, the company holds a Royal Warrant from Queen Elizabeth II. Since 2012 the company has been co-owned by the Chinese Government through the state-run Bright Food, and the equity firm Baring Private Equity Asia, with Bright Food having the controlling interest.

In April 2017, the American company Post Holdings reached an agreement to buy the company for £1.4 billion.

The food product was originally invented in Australia in the 1920s by Bennison Osborne. Osborne and his friend Malcolm MacFarlane successfully launched Weet-Bix in Australia and New Zealand under the sponsorship of the owner of Grain Products Ltd., who soon sold the Australasian rights to the Australasian Conference Association Limited Sanitarium Health Food Company. Osborne and MacFarlane decided to expand into South Africa and while there, they began the establishment of the British & African Cereal Company, Ltd., a Private Company, in order to start a venture in England under the Companies, Act,1929, (Company No. 267687), where they became joint Managing Directors until MacFarlane left the Company in 1932/1933, after which Osborne became the sole Managing Director until 1936, when he left the Company for the United States of America. The first Directors of the Company were Bennison Osborne, Malcolm MacFarlane, Alfred Richard Upton and Arthur Stanley Scrutton. Frank George, who had offered them the use of a disused flour mill in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, subsequently requested and was granted shares in the Company and was offered a place on the Board.