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Roy Bagattini is pulling one of Woolworths' most important supplier relationships inside the business.
The Woolworths Group CEO confirmed Tuesday that the South African food and clothing retailer has agreed to acquire in2food Holdings, a privately held company and one of its largest convenience food suppliers, for an undisclosed sum. The purchase price will be settled in cash using existing funding facilities.
Woolworths will buy 100% of in2food from the company's founders, Old Mutual Private Equity, and other shareholders. Bagattini said the deal strengthens what has already been a three-decade partnership and brings a "key strategic capability closer to the Woolworths Foods business."
In2food sits at the center of what Woolworths does best in food. The producer supplies the retailer's private-label convenience meals, fresh produce, long-life products and bakery items, generating more than 5 billion rand ($299 million) in annual revenue. Woolworths is its biggest customer, though in2food also supplies local and international clients including Marks and Spencer across food service and wholesale markets.
Richard Cooper, in2food's CEO, said the transaction strengthens Woolworths' capacity to protect product quality, drive innovation and ensure availability on shelf. The management team will stay on and continue running in2food as a standalone unit inside the Woolworths group.
Woolworths said it expects the acquisition to be immediately earnings-accretive, even before any cost savings or operational improvements come through. That is a notable signal from a retailer navigating sustained cost pressures and a competitive premium grocery market where supply reliability is becoming as important as product quality.
Bagattini was careful to frame the deal narrowly. He said it does not signal any broader shift in how Woolworths manages its supplier network, with those relationships remaining central to the retailer's differentiated food offering.
Still, vertical integration of this kind carries obvious logic. Locking down control of a supplier that generates billions in annual revenue and sits at the heart of your fastest-growing product category reduces exposure to logistics risk and gives leadership more direct leverage over quality.
The deal awaits standard regulatory clearances.
