ZURICH - Nestle (NESN.VX) has taken full ownership of U.S. company Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream Holdings Inc., making the world's largest food group also the world leader in the ice cream business, Nestle said on Thursday. In 2003, Nestle took a 67-percent stake in Dreyer's, which makes and distributes ice cream and frozen dessert products, with a view to buying the rest of the company later.
The completion of the takeover comes on the heels of a string of deals seen as fitting into Nestle's strategy of expanding in ice cream and focusing on premium brands.
Nestle said it was now the clear global leader in ice cream with a 17.5 percent market share, after also buying Greek-based Delta Ice Cream for about 240 million euros ($291.2 million) in December.
It also said in December it would enter a joint venture for chilled dairy products with French dairy group Lactalis.
Nestle is pushing into higher-margin foods, such as those offering extra nutritional benefits, away from its roots as a primary converter of raw materials like milk, coffee and cocoa.
Nestle, the maker of Nescafe coffee and KitKat chocolate wafers, said it had reached market share of 23.2 percent in the United States last year through Dreyer's business, according to AC Nielsen data.
