Navigation

Nestlé buys Chef America for $2.6 billion

Nestlé is pursuing an aggressive expansion strategy in the US swissinfo.ch

Swiss food giant Nestlé has bought the United States frozen food group, Chef America, for $2.6 billion (SFr3.86 billion).

This content was published on August 6, 2002 - 08:43

The move is being seen by analysts as a move by the world's largest food group to cement its position in the fast-growing US frozen food market.

"Chef America is an ideal and strategically important complement to our own frozen food activities in the United States," said Nestlé chief executive Peter Brabeck.

Nestlé said the deal, through its US unit, would include taking on Chef America's debts and involve a net transfer of around $2 billion after the effect of tax benefits.

Higher sales

Colorado-based Chef America, a privately held company, was expected to generate sales of around $720 million this year - an increase of more than 15 per cent over 2001, said Nestlé in a statement on Tuesday.

The Vevey-based company said the deal was subject to regulatory clearance and was expected to be closed within two months.

Chef America is best known for Hot Pockets, frozen sandwiches for use in microwaves. Other well known products include Lean Pockets, Croissant Pockets, Pizza Minis and Toaster Melts.

Nestlé is also being seen as one of the front runners to take over the US's top confectionary maker, Hershey, which is up for sale. The sale price is expected to be in the region of $12 billion.

swissinfo with agencies

In compliance with the JTI standards

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

Sort by

Change your password

Do you really want to delete your profile?

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.

Discover our weekly must-reads for free!

Sign up to get our top stories straight into your mailbox.

The SBC Privacy Policy provides additional information on how your data is processed.