IllovoSugar GBP100m investmnt

Associated British Foods PLC
22 November 2007

                          Associated British Foods plc


             Illovo Sugar announces £100 million investment in Mali


For immediate release              22 November 2007


Illovo Sugar announced on 12 November that it had approved an investment in the
sugar industry in Mali.  Associated British Foods plc ('ABF'), the international
food, ingredients and retail group holds a 51% stake in Illovo Sugar.



Illovo Sugar will hold a 70% stake in an investment of 1.4 billion rand (£100
million) for the construction of a new sugar mill, an ethanol plant and an
electricity co-generation unit in Mali.  The remaining stake will be held by the
Government of Mali and private investors.  Illovo will also manage a Mali
Government-sponsored agricultural development to produce the 1.5 million tonnes
of sugar cane per annum required to supply this new facility.



Sugar production will begin in December 2009, reaching full capacity two years
later.  The mill will ultimately produce 200,000 tonnes of sugar per annum and
the ethanol plant 15 million litres per annum.



George Weston, Chief Executive of Associated British Foods, said:
'This investment in Mali follows Illovo's recently announced expansion in Zambia
and is further evidence of the region's development potential and our commitment
to it.'



For further information please contact:

Associated British Foods
John Bason, Finance Director
Tel: [phone]

Geoff Lancaster, Head of External Affairs
Tel: [phone]

Citigate Dewe Rogerson:
Jonathan Clare/Chris Barrie/Hannah Seward
Tel: [phone]


Notes to Editors


1.         Associated British Foods is a diversified international food,
ingredients and retail group with sales of £6.8billion and 85,000 employees in
43 countries.  It has significant businesses outside Europe in southern Africa,
the US, China and Australia.



Its aim is to achieve strong, sustainable leadership positions in markets that
offer potential for profitable growth.  We look to achieve this through a
combination of growth of existing businesses, acquisition of complementary new
businesses and achievement of high levels of operating efficiency.  The group
has established a track record of successful value adding acquisitions including
a 51% stake in Illovo Sugar, Africa's biggest cane sugar producer with extensive
agricultural and manufacturing operations in six African countries, AB Mauri
(its leading international yeast and bakery ingredients business), Littlewoods
stores for Primark and the grocery brands Mazola, Ovaltine and Patak's.



2.                  Illovo Sugar, which is listed on the JSE, is the largest
cane sugar producer in Africa and one of the world's lowest cost producers.  It
is the leading producer in South Africa, Malawi, Zambia and Swaziland and has a
strong and growing presence in Tanzania and Mozambique.  It produced 1.7 million
tonnes of sugar in the 2006/7 season and has development programmes to expand
its capacity substantially.


3.                  British Sugar is a substantial business within ABF. It has
operations in the UK, Poland, China and southern Africa which process some 4
million tonnes of sugar annually.  It is the most efficient sugar producer in
Europe and has a proven ability to create value through improvement in
agricultural yields, operational efficiencies, co-product development, marketing
and product innovation.  It has world class production facilities and technical
expertise.  The largest and most efficient beet sugar factory in the world is at
Wissington in Norfolk and this is also the site for the UK's first bioethanol
plant.



            British Sugar has four cane sugar mills in Guangxi province in
southern China and sugar production exceeded 0.5 million tonnes in 2006/7.  It
announced on 24 August 2007 its first investment in the beet sugar industry in
north east China.






                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange