Ferrero Group entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the U.S. confectionary business of Nestlé S.A. for $2.8 billion.
January 15, 2018
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Ferrero Group ('Ferrero') entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the U.S. confectionary business of Nestlé S.A. (SWX:NESN) for $2.8 billion on January 16, 2018. The purchase consideration is payable in cash. The purchase includes more than 20 American brands, including Butterfinger, BabyRuth, 100Grand, Raisinets, Wonka and the exclusive right to the Crunch brand for confectionary and certain categories in the U.S., as well as sugar brands such as SweeTarts, LaffyTaffy, and Nerds. Ferrero will acquire Nestlé’s U.S. manufacturing facilities in Bloomington, Franklin Park and Itasca, Illinois, and the confectionary-related employees, and will continue to operate through the offices in Glendale, California, as well as from its other current locations in Illinois and in New Jersey.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals and is expected to close around the end of the first quarter of 2018. Jens Welter of Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Limited along with Tim George and Davin Staats of Lazard Ltd (NYSE:LAZ) served as financial advisors to Ferrero. John A. Bick, Daniel Brass, Abraham Einhorn, Pritesh P. Shah, David R. Bauer, Paul S. Lee, David H. Schnabel, Isaac MacDonald, Jean M. McLoughlin and David Mollo-Christensen of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP acted as legal advisors to Ferrero. Goldman Sachs acted as financial advisor to Nestlé S.A. and David Carpenter, Richard Assmus, James Barry, John Boelter, Brad Peterson, Mark Ryan, Thomas Vitale, Meytal McCoy, Kelly Camp, Omar El-Khattabi, George Haines and Nora Shafie of Mayer Brown LLP and Uros Popovic of Bojovic & Partners acted as legal advisors to Nestlé S.A.
Nestlé S.A. is the world's leading agri-food group. Net sales break down by category of products as follows:
- powdered and liquid beverages (26.7%): soluble coffees (Nescafé and Starbucks brands), coffee in capsules (Nespresso), chocolate drinks (Nesquik, Milo, etc.), tea drinks (Nestea), etc.;
- pet food (20.3%): brands such as Purina, Friskies, Felix, etc.;
- pharmaceutical, nutrition and well-being products (16.4%): nutritional supplements (Resource, Boost, Nutren, Optifast, Peptamen brands, etc.), infant and maternal nutrition products (NAN, illuma, Cerelac, Nido, Gerber), ketogenic beverages (BrainXpert), (Nesquick, Fitness, Cheerios, Lion, etc.), etc.;
- ready meals and seasoning products (12.5%): frozen and chilled dishes (Lean Cuisine, Hot Pockets and Stouffer's brands), soups (Maggi), etc.;
- dairy products and ice cream (11.8%): powdered milk, sweetened condensed milk, yoghurt and cream desserts, ice cream (Nido, Nesvita, Carnation, La Laitière, Coffee Mate, Nestlé Ice Cream, Dreyers, Häagen-Dazs, Extrême brands, etc.);
- chocolates, sweets and biscuits (8.7%): Kit Kat, Smarties, Cailler, Terrafertil, etc. brands;
- bottled waters (3.6%): Nestlé Pure Life, Vittel, Perrier, S. Pellegrino, etc. brands.
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: Switzerland (1.2%), France (3.8%), the United Kingdom (3.8%), Germany (2.4%), Europe (12.8%), the United States and Canada (35%), China (5.9%), Asia and Oceania (21.4%) and Latin America (13.7%).
NESTLÉ S.A. 
