R&R Ice Cream buys Nestle’s South African business
NORTH YORKSHIRE’S R&R Ice Cream has scooped up Nestle’s South African ice cream business for an undisclosed sum.
The group had acquired Nestle’s UK ice cream business in 2001, which enabled the company to produce and sell brands such as Fab, Smarties, Rolo and Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles.
The South African business employs 200 people at its Johannesburg factory and owns 22,000 freezers across South Africa and the sub-Saharan region.
It is the latest acquisition by R&R, the world’s third-largest ice cream manufacturer, which bought Australian group Peters Food last year and had previously added French, German and Italian ice cream manufacturers as well as UK-based Fredericks Dairies and frozen yogurt business YooMoo. The group has annual global sales of around £700m of its branded and private label products.
R&R chief executive Ibrahim Najafi said: “This acquisition is a major milestone towards our goal of becoming a leading global player in ice cream. As a business we have enjoyed a successful partnership with Nestlé for nearly 15 years in the UK. This relationship was extended with the acquisition of Peters in Australia, also a former Nestlé business, and now we are looking forward to working together in South Africa.
“We also believe that African ice cream consumption will continue to increase as consumers become more affluent and we see this acquisition as a springboard to grow sales across much of the African continent.”
R&R, which was founded in North Yorkshire in 1985 and later merged with Leeds-based Treats Group, was itself bought by European private equity giant PAI Partners two years ago.
The terms of the deal, which have not been disclosed, are subject to the approval of the South African Competition Commission.
