VEVEY, Switzerland (AP) – Nestle SA might purchase Gerber Products, the baby food company, along with a medical nutrition business from drugmaker Novartis AG for up to $5 billion, according to a report published Wednesday.
Nestle, the world's largest food producer and the world's largest manufacturer of baby nutrition products, is currently in negotiations to buy a medical nutrition business from Novartis, and is interested in acquiring Gerber Products Co. in the same deal, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the situation.
Novartis CEO Daniel Vasella said in the Journal interview that his company wants to focus on its medicines business and that Gerber is not part of this core business,
Gerber, based in Fremont, Mich., makes a variety of foods and juices as well as other products for babies and toddlers; and has a life-insurance unit.
In 1994, Nestle tried to buy Gerber but lost out to the company that eventually became Novartis through a merger, the newspaper said. The Journal said Gerber has a 79 percent share of the U.S. baby food market.
Also Wednesday, Nestle agreed to buy Australia's Green's Foods Ltd. for $106.8 million to gain market share in Australia.
Green's, which owns the Supercoat brand, will first sell its consumer foods business and its holding in Bestcare to a unit of Guinness Peat Group PLC and CVC Capital Partners in a transaction worth about $32.8 million, the company said in a statement.