The chocolate world is in a bit of turmoil as global sales are falling and consolidation remakes the industry. Kraft and Hershey's are battling it out to buy Cadbury. Now Barry Callebaut, AG, which provides bulk chocolate to many of the companies that make your favorite cookies and chocolate bars, is considering
selling its consumer unit to concentrate on its wholesale business.
Callebaut has "regularly" received phone calls about the unit, which sells Alprose chocolate bars, Steinemann said in an interview before the company's annual general meeting yesterday in Zurich. He said the company isn't in discussions with the parties, whom he declined to identify.
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The Zurich-based company canceled plans to merge the maker of Sarotti cocoa drinks with Spain's Natra SA in September after failing to agree on a price. Barry Callebaut failed to divest the business as global chocolate consumption declined for the first time in a decade.
The unit, which has annual sales of 811 million francs ($791 million), is worth 250 million francs, according to an estimate by Kepler Capital Markets, and about 400 million francs according to Bank Vontobel.
Steinemann declined to comment on whether Kraft Food Inc.’s bid for Cadbury Plc will help Barry Callebaut achieve a better price.
Generally chocolate consumption stays the same or rises during a recession. But this recession has been so prolonged and so many people are out of work that chocolate consumption has actually fallen 2% this past year and is predicted to remain flat for the next year.
As for Callebaut, it is closely watching the Cadbury drama unfold. Callebaut provides bulk chocolate to Cadbury already, and it provides Kraft with the chocolate for its LU cookie unit.
