Nestlé scoops up rival Swiss ice cream maker

The Swiss food giant Nestlé continued its assault on the global ice cream market yesterday by scooping ownership of the luxury Mövenpick ice cream brand, also of Switzerland.

The deal pits Nestlé head-to-head with its Anglo-Dutch rival Unilever for the number one slot in a global ice-cream market worth about £19bn a year. It is Nestlé's fourth ice cream acquisition since the end of 2001 and reflects the group's shift away from confectionary and into faster growing areas such as pet food and water.

The terms of yesterday's deal, which covers only Mövenpick's ice cream operations, were not disclosed. The move follows Nestlé's recent purchase of Schoeller Holding, which had an exclusive licence to sell Mövenpick in Germany, the brand's biggest market.

Although Nestlé and Unilever are neck and neck in terms of annual global ice cream sales, the Swiss group edged ahead in the key US market last year through an agreement to merge its American ice cream business with Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream. The deal is still under investigation by competition authorities, but is expected to be cleared shortly, according to Nestlé.

The Mövenpick brand extends Nestlé's premium ice cream portfolio, which also includes rights to the Häagen-Dazs brand in the US and Canada. Analysts expect the Swiss group to bid for the Häagen-Dazs business in the rest of the world, which is owned by General Mills.

The agreement with Mövenpick excludes the brand's New Zealand ice cream operations and its other food businesses, as well as its hotels and restaurants division, which all remain with the Mövenpick Group.

Mövenpick ice cream has about300m Swiss francs (£136m) in annual sales, mostly made through licensees in Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Including Dreyer's, the deal brings Nestlé's total ice cream turnover to about Sfr7.5bn annually. Nestlé said the deal was subject to regulatory clearance in only a few countries and is expected to close in the next few weeks.