UK buyout firm Apax Partners has won the $1bn (€800m) auction for Israel's biggest food producer, in one of the largest private equity deals in the region to date.

Tnuva Marketing Cooperative said Apax had agreed to buy at least 51% of the company, in a deal that values it at $1bn. Tnuva accounts for about 70% of the Israeli food market, selling dairy products, meat and packaged foods, and had sales of $1.2bn in 2005.