Nestlé, Cargill and PepsiCo go shopping and resume investments
DCI
The crisis is seen by the food industry as a network of opportunities in acquisitions and this segment of the economy lives the expectation of several business announcements that are under analysis. After the creation of the Brasil Foods (a union between Sadia and Perdigão), Nestlé, Cargill and PepsiCo are among the companies that should add up to this business mass, which in spite of presenting different levels of negotiation, foresee the increase of fund transfers and the resumption of investments in Brazil, where the domestic market is the main destination of the production. This participation should increase even more in 2009 according to estimates of the Brazilian Association of Food Industry (Abia), which foresees growth of 2% over the income of R$ 268.8 bi (US$ 146.9 bi) of last year.
Among the three companies Nestlé is the one whose process of acquisition is in more advanced stage, according to its CEO, Ivan Zurita, the company is developing three projects, two of which are in the process of analysis, in which facts that may make the business unfeasible can happen and the other is already at the final stage of arrangement. At PepsiCo the mystery is the same, according to the company CEO in Brazil, Otto Von Sothen, the multinational company is analyzing acquisitions in two areas in which it operates, foods and beverages, but he does not disclose which the potential targets are. A little more distant seems to be the plan of Cargill to acquire companies in the Brazilian market. According to the CEO of the multinational company in Brazil, Marcelo Martins, there is possibility of growth in the market and that has taken the company to look at the opportunities to grow.