Disposal
December 17 2003 - 2:01AM
UK Regulatory
RNS Number:3522T
Nestle SA
17 December 2003
Press Release
Nestle Turkey to Concentrate on Core Businesses -
Sale of Dairy Operations
Vevey, 17 December 2003 - The Nestle Group has reached an agreement on the
sale of its dairy business in Turkey to Danone.
The transaction concerns the Nestle Turkey chilled dairy and UHT milk products.
Nestle will, however, retain the control and maintain a presence in the dairy
market in Turkey through one of its key strategic brands, Nesquik, and through
Nestle Cocuk growing up milk, both in ready-to-drink form, to be initially
manufactured by Danone for Nestle. The transaction also involves, in particular,
the transfer of the Gonen factory and of the Mis brands to Danone. The deal is
subject to regulatory approval in Turkey.
Nestle Turkey made this decision in line with the Group's objective to achieve
sustainable, capital efficient and profitable long-term growth. The sale of this
business will allow Nestle Turkey to grow faster in the promising Turkish market
by focusing its resources on its well-established core categories such as
confectionery, culinary, infant nutrition, breakfast cereals, coffee and water.
The move in Turkey follows several decisions made in Western Europe in the
chilled dairy sector. Because the European dairy market remains a key strategic
area for Nestle, the Group has launched a series of initiatives aimed at
refocusing and prioritizing this sector. Thus, the LC1 brand was recently
licensed to a third party in Germany. More recently, Nestle has announced an
agreement with Emmi in Switzerland concerning the production and distribution of
its Hirz chilled dairy lines.
Contacts:
Media: Francois-Xavier Perroud Tel.: +41-21-924 2596
Investors: Roddy Child-Villiers Tel.: +41-21-924 3622
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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