Ferrero is best known for Nutella, as well as the gold foil-lined chocolates that bear its name.
Ferrero is close to completing the acquisition of biscuit brands Delacre and DeliChoc from United Biscuits, according to reports in the media.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that the Italian confectionery giant ‘made an offer for Belgian cookie firms Delacre and DeliChoc, and for two biscuit plants in France and Belgium’.
All of the assets are currently owned by United Biscuits, which was bought out by Yildiz Holding in 2014 and was among a number of brands grouped together under its new biscuit and confectionery business, Pladis, in June.
“A Ferrero-affiliated entity has made an offer to acquire the manufacturers of Delacre and DeliChoc biscuits – NV Biscuits Delacre SA and United Biscuits Industries SAS (together ‘Delacre’ – from United Biscuits,” the two parties were quoted as saying.
“The offer is now subject to a competition review in line with standard procedures and steps for a transaction of this nature.”
DeliChoc is a range of Belgian chocolate-coated biscuits that United Biscuits brought across from the continent last year, following strong performance in markets such as France.
The acquisition follows Ferrero’s takeover of fellow confectioner Thorntons in June 2015 for £112 million. The company’s chief executive, Giovanni Ferrero, said at the time that the move for the struggling company came at the right time, following a year in which the business ‘delivered its best ever results in the UK’.
Its financial performance in 2014 ‘gave [Ferrero] confidence that now is the right time to broaden our roots in this important market’, FoodBev quoted him as saying.
Ferrero is the son of Michele Ferrero, who helped transform his father’s bakery and café in the Italian town of Alba into an international confectionery company. He died in February 2015, aged 89.
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024