BRIGHT Food Group, Shanghai's biggest food and dairy company, is in exclusive talks to buy out UK's United Biscuits for US$3.16 billion in its latest bid to venture abroad through mergers and acquisitions.

The move came after the firm lost out to Singapore's Wilmar in buying Australia's largest sugar refinery, a division of CSR Ltd.

Bright Food has proposed to buy United Biscuits, the maker of Jaffa Cake and McVitie's cookies, from Blackstone Group and PAI Partners, and confidential negotiations are being held, the UK's Sunday Times reported.

Chen Chunshan, a Bright Food spokesman, declined to reveal any details on the matter when contacted by Shanghai Daily via phone. The company will not comment until the matter is settled, he said.

If Bright succeeds in buying United Biscuits it will be the largest overseas acquisition by a Chinese firm in food and beverage.

United Biscuits, founded in 1948 and among the top biscuits makers in Europe along with Danone, posted a net profit of 223 million pounds (US$353 million) in 2009 on sales of 1.3 billion pounds. Blackstone and PAI Partners jointly bought United Biscuits in 2006 for US$3 billion.

Wang Zongnan, chairman of Bright Food, said earlier that the company plans to step up M&As in the following three years under a strategy to enter overseas markets. The government-backed group is eying assets including sugar, dairy, winery and wholesale business.

The group has signed a memorandum of understanding with Australia's New South Wales state government on possible investments in the agricultural sector. In July, Bright Dairy and Food Co, a listed unit of Bright Food, said it planned to buy 51 percent of New Zealand milk processor Synlait Milk Ltd for 382 million yuan (US$57 million).