Italian food producer Ferrero, whom you might know as the producers of Nutella, Tic Tacs, and Kinder Eggs, has joined in an ongoing race to purchase some of Campbell’s international businesses. While Campbell’s domestic pursuits mostly revolve around canned soup, their international businesses include biscuit brand Arnott’s, Kelsen Group, a subsidiary of the company’s biscuit and snacks operating segment, and various manufacturing operations in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Back in August, Campbell’s began offloading international and fresh refrigerated food rights after a strategic review necessitated trimming some fat. Multiple producers of food and snacks around the world have their eyes on these properties, both for the foods they encompass and the accompanying infrastructure and real estate.
While both Ferrero and Campbell’s refused to comment on a potential deal, sources allegedly close to the matter reported that that Ferrero is working on an agreement with Rothschild as an adviser. If a deal between Ferrero and Campbell’s is reached, it could potentially be worth approximately $2 billion. However, by Campbell’s own admission, the units that have been put up for sale have been attracting many prospective buyers, so Ferrero’s deal could be merely a rumor or hypothetical taken out of context.
