Valeo Foods - the owner of leading Irish consumer brands Batchelors, Odlums, Jacob's biscuits, and Kelkin - has acquired the European business of Kettle Foods from the Campbell Soup Company for around £66m (€73m).

Posh crisp maker Kettle could be sold after its US food giant owner Campbell hired advisers to assess the future of the snack brand.

Noodle chain Wagamama is to step up its restaurant opening programme after being snapped up by a private equity firm in a £215m (€244m) deal today.

The maker of upmarket Kettle Chips has been sold to a US snack firm after an auction valuing the business at more than £400m (€448m).

Potato chip maker Kettle Foods was today bought by Lion Capital as part of a move to create the UK’s second-biggest snack business.