CHINA – Food Wise is set to acquire the peanut milk and canned rice porridge business of Yinlu food company from Swiss food manufacturing giant Nestlé for a undisclosed sum.

The deal covers all of Yinlu’s operations, including its five factories in Fujian, Anhui, Hubei, Shandong and Sichuan. Yinlu brands had sales of CHF 700 million in 2019.

Food Wise Co. is a company controlled by the family of Yinlu founder Chen Qingshui.

The acquisition can be thus seen as a reclamation of the company which was fully acquired by Nestlé in 2018.

According to a statement from Nestlé, Food Wise Co is well-positioned to enable a smooth transition and ensure the long-term success of that business.

Nestlé further noted that the transaction allows it to focus on key categories in China: infant nutrition, confectionery, coffee, culinary, dairy and petcare.

According to Nestlé, The Greater China Region was its second largest market in 2019 with sales of about CHF 7 billion (about US$7.67 billion).

The Swiss manufacturer further noted that it was fully committed to this region and that it had, in the past five years, invested about US$876 million in the region.

As part of the transaction, Nestlé will retain its ready-to-drink (RTD) Nescafé coffee business and distribute the products across most of the Greater China Region.

Nescafé is a strategic growth driver for Nestlé, and the company continues to invest to further strengthen the brand across all channels in the market.

The entire Nescafé business in China will be managed by one team, using synergies and strengthening capabilities that will help drive further growth in the business.

Yinlu will however continue to manufacture the Nescafé RTD products for Nestlé and will distribute the products in several provinces.

The chinese food processor will also continue to manufacture and sell Nestea products under license from Nestlé.

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