International ice cream giant Froneri is in talks to buy the ice cream operations of Israeli food conglomerate Osem. The deal with Osem's subsidiary Noga, is likely to be signed in the coming week, sources inform "Globes." The deal is likely to be for tens of millions of euros.
Froneri is owned 50% by UK-based R&R Ice Cream plc and 50% by Swiss-based Nestle S.A. As Osem is anyway a fully owned subsidiary of Nestle, the Swiss company will in effect be selling half of Osem's ice cream activities and becoming a silent partner in the business.
Noga has 150 employees in Israel and produces Nestle brand ice cream and also has an agreement with US ice cream manufacturer Haagen Dasz to import and distribute its ice cream in Israel. Noga's annual sales to Israel's retail market totals NIS 350 million annually.
The Israel deal is part of a worldwide merging began several years ago of Nestle's ice cream operation with R&R Ice Cream UK to form Froneri, which has become one of the world's largest ice cream manufacturers and is already operating in 20 countries. The strategy behind the merger was to compete with global giant Unilever's ice cream operations, which operate in Israel through Strauss Group Ltd. (TASE:STRS). The talks between Osem and Froneri began in 2016.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on June 2, 2019
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2019