ROSSLYN, Va. — Nestle is selling its U.S. ice cream business to Froneri, an ice cream-focused joint venture Nestle created in 2016 with private equity firm PAI Partners.
The $4 billion transaction—which includes brands such as Haagen-Dazs, Drumstick and Outshine—is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020.
In 2016, Nestle and PAI Partners merged Nestle’s European ice cream business in 20 countries and PAI-owned ice cream company R&R to create Froneri, one of the world’s largest ice cream companies with operations in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia-Pacific, said Nestle.
Froneri has achieved rapid sales and profit growth since then, according to the company, and with the acquisition will have a strong presence in the United States.
"The creation of Froneri has been a phenomenal success. We are now making this business our global strategic partner in ice cream and are convinced that Froneri’s successful business model can be extended to the U.S. market,” said Nestle CEO Mark Schneider. “With this transaction, we are taking a decisive step toward our goal of achieving global leadership in ice cream."
Vevy, Switzerland-based Nestle’s ice cream business had sales of about $1.8 billion in 2018. Nestle USA, Rosslyn, Va., will continue to manage its ice cream businesses in Canada, Latin America and Asia.
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