Nestle Seeks Control of Haagen-Dazs Venture

Nestle, the world’s biggest food company, said it was in talks with General Mills Inc. to gain control of a venture for Haagen-Dazs ice cream in the U.S. in a deal reportedly worth $650 million. Financial analysts said Switzerland-based Nestle would likely try to obtain full control of the worldwide Haagen-Dazs business, which could be worth as much as $2 billion. They said Haagen-Dazs is the only truly global premium ice cream brand in the $52.5-billion world market and could help Nestle, the No. 2 ice cream maker in the world, to overtake Anglo-Dutch archrival Unilever. Nestle said it had decided several weeks ago to exercise a call option it had on the 50% stake in the joint venture that it does not already own. Minneapolis-based General Mills is acquiring the Haagen-Dazs brand in a $10.5-billion deal to buy Pillsbury Co. from Diageo, which is expected to be concluded before the end of January. The venture, called Ice Cream Partners USA, produces and sells ice cream under the Nestle and Haagen-Dazs brands in the U.S. market and has annual sales of $600 million.