Nestle S A : Italy's Newlat Food has offered bid for Britain's Hovis - source
October 04, 2020 at 11:41 am
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MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's Newlat Food has presented a preliminary, non-binding offer to buy Hovis, the 134-year-old British bread maker, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Sunday.
Hovis has also attracted the interest of private equity and turnaround funds, Sky News said on Friday, citing the potential involvement of Newlat.
The Italian group is ready to spend as much as 100 million pounds for the bread maker, which is owned by Premier Foods and The Gores Group, the source told said.
The acquisition of Hovis would allow Newlat Food to increase its annual turnover to 1 billion euros, reaching ahead of time a goal set when it listed in October 2019.
It would also give more international exposure to the Milan-listed group, which is already active in Germany.
The Parma-based group - which has recently acquired Italian dairy company Centrale del Latte d'Italia - has a portfolio of many different brands, including Delverde pasta.
It also manufactures Buitoni products under a licensing deal with Nestle.
(Reporting by Francesca Landini; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
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. 
