SWITZERLAND, Feb 4: Nestle SA said on Wednesday it had signed an agreement to acquire Spillers Petfoods for a cash transaction valued at 715 million sterling.The deal is subject to Dalgety Plc's shareholders'approval, as well as regulatory approval, Nestle said in a statement.
Nestle intends to relocate key activities of its European pet food business to London, "and build a strong marketing, financial and supply chain team around the existing Friskies and Spillers management," Nestle said.
Nestle said the planned transaction would reinforce itsposition as an important global player in the growing petfood business.
"This development started with the Carnation acquisition in 1985, and was considerably accelerated with the purchase and successful integration of Alpo, a US-based operation, in 1994," Nestle said.
"Spillers now ideally complements the existing Nestle petfood business under the Friskies brand, and the optimal capacity utilisation will allow Nestle to further expand in the growingEuropean petfood markets with a competitive cost structure," Nestle said.
It said it also expected to gain significant synergies in administration, research and development, as well as in purchasing, sales and logistics.
It added that Friskies' strengths were centred mainly on southern Europe while Spillers' weight was in the UK and northern Europe.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
