Wilbur Chocolate, a unit of US agribusiness giant Cargill, has announced that it has acquired California-based Peter’s Chocolate from Nestlé USA.
The deal, of which financial terms were not disclosed, has made Wilbur Chocolate the number one US chocolate supplier to confectioners and bakers.
The move is thought to correspond to Nestlé’s strategy to move away from industrial-use chocolate to concentrate on the more lucrative finished products and brands.
“[Industrial-use chocolate] is not a customer retail brand, like Nestlé’s Crunch bar. They decided to focus on candy you and I like to eat. This [Peter’s] was a distraction and they decided to get out,” an industry source told Reuters.
The acquisition of Peter’s will give Pennsylvania-based Wilbur a greater geographical market reach.
