Nestlé’s industrial footprint in France continues to shrink. The Swiss agri-food giant has decided to offload a new factory. In this case, located in Arches in the Vosges, where the baby food is produced. Nestlé France, in fact, announced on Thursday 1er February, opening of exclusive negotiations with French investment fund FnB for a possible sale of this activity. The project will be finalized in the first half of 2024.
When the transaction, the amount of which was not disclosed, is completed, Nestlé will have just 14 factories in France, compared with 31 reported in 2011. In about ten years, the world number one in agri-food will be more. halving its industrial capacity.
The challenge for the group’s managers, who are constantly restructuring it, is to sell less profitable or low-growth activities to boost financial results. So they are shedding local or national brands in favor of flagship brands like Nespresso, Nescafe, San Pellegrino or Purina.
Purees, soups and desserts
In 2023, the ax fell on the Cowdry factory in the north where the Swiss group produced Butoni pizzas, victims of a health scandal. The site finally found a buyer, Italpizza, the Italian frozen pizza group, which signed on Thursday 1er February purchase action. The new owner says it is ready to invest twelve million euros over four years to modernize the line and plans to restart production in the fall of 2024.
A year earlier, in 2022, it was Mousseline Purée, made in Rosiers-en-Centre (Somme), that changed hands. FnB, a French investment fund specializing in the agri-food industry, took over. After buying Legal Cafe, the same investor continued his purchases and therefore focused on the baby food business, apart from Nestlé France’s infant milk.
A scope that includes purees, soups and dessert ranges but also breakfast powders sold under the Natures, Babykao and BabyVanille brands, adding the P’tit franchise. The Nestlé group clarified that there would be no impact on employment at the Arches factory, although it has 230 employees.
