US ice cream giants

While the UK’s leading ice cream manufacturers are facing a crackdown by competition authorities, two of the biggest suppliers in the fragmented US market are set to merge.

Nestle USA and Haagen-Dazs have formed a 50-50 joint venture, provisionally entitled Ice Cream Partners USA. Under the agreement, the parent companies of each operation – Nestle and The Pillsbury Company (part of Diageo) – will license their American impulse and take-home brands to the new venture. The operation will have an estimated turnover of r600 million a year.

Pillsbury chairman and chief executive officer Paul Walsh said the joint venture with Nestle would enable Haagen-Dazs to accelerate incremental growth.

“Hƒ¤agen-Dazs is the world’s most famous brand of super-premium ice cream,” he told the Reuters news agency. “The joint venture will con- tinue to build on its position in the US market.”

Walsh’s counterpart at Nestle USA, Joe Weller, added: “This agreement brings together two complementary businesses with strengths in two distinct segments – super-premium packaged ice cream and novelties. Nestle contributes worldwide expertise in frozen dessert technology and a solid alternative channel strategy to this joint venture.”

Excluded from the deal, which will be subject to anti-trust scrutiny, are both parties’ international operations and the Haagen-Dazs US network of shops.