The company behind Wagon Wheels and Jammie Dodgers was yesterday snapped up by Duke Street Capital, the private equity firm, in an estimated £210 million deal.

Duke Street saw off competition from Jacob Fruitfield Food Group, the Irish owner of Jacob’s Fig Rolls and Jacob’s Cream Crackers, in the final round of bidding to seal a deal with Burton’s Foods, Britain’s second-biggest biscuit maker.

The sale marks Duke Street’s latest move into the consumer goods sector. The private equity firm bought Buckingham Foods, a maker of packaged sandwiches, and Thomas Food Group, which specialises in quiche and other savoury products, last March. A month later, it added Food Partners, another sandwich maker, to its portfolio.

Burton’s, which also makes Maryland Cookies and biscuit brands for Cadbury’s, has been on the market since November, when its American private equity owner HM Capital appointed advisers to conduct a review of the business.

HM Capital, formerly known as Hicks Muse, bought Burton’s from Associated British Foods in December 2000 for £130 million, narrowly topping a rival offer from Duke Street.

This time around, Duke Street has seen off competition from a range of trade players and private equity firms.

Northern Foods, the owner of Fox’s biscuits, pulled out of the auction last month, while United Biscuits, the UK’s biggest biscuits maker and the company behind the McVitie’s brand, dropped out at an early stage in the process.

Legal & General Ventures, 3i and a consortium of private equity firms are also understood to have expressed interest in Burton’s.

Burton’s reported profits of £4 million for the year to December 31, 2005, on sales of £287 million. It employs 3,000 people at sites including Edinburgh, Blackpool, Moreton and Knowsley on Merseyside, Llantarnam in South Wales and St Albans in Hertfordshire.

Duke Street said yesterday that it would retain Burton’s existing management, led by chief executive Paul Kitchener.

The Burton’s transaction comes amid a spate of consolidation among consumer goods companies.

In addition to the £1.6 billion acquisition of United Biscuits by Blackstone and PAI last year, Premier Foods, the maker of Hovis bread and Branston pickle, paid £1.2 billion for RHM, the company behind Bisto gravy and Mr Kipling cakes, in December.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive