Germany’s Frosta Foods agrees deal for Nestlé’s Italian brands | Progresiv
Nestlé has agreed to sell a number of Italian frozen food brands – including frozen vegetable brand La Valle Degli Orti, frozen seafood brand Mare Fresco, and Surgella – to Germany’s Frosta Group for an undisclosed amount. 
Nestlé said that the move was ‘a step forward’ in its plan for investment and development of the Italian market.
That long-term vision, announced in December, will see its factory in Benevento – new Naples – become ‘an international hub’ focused entirely on production of the Buitoni brand of frozen pizzas. The Swiss company is investing 48 million euros in a radical overhaul of the site’s production lines, introducing advanced technology to help it meet demand both domestically and overseas.
But part of that strategy includes offloading the Nestlé Italiana business unit, and with it periphery brands like La Valle Degli Orti, Mare Fresco and Surgella.
Nestlé said that it was confident that the Frosta Group – a frozen food company present in Italy since 1989, and with turnover totalling 440 million euros a year – would be the right partner ‘continue development and promotion of the brands and related business activities’.
Based in Bremerhaven, in northern Germany, the group employs around 1,600 people and operates facilities in eight countries. (www.foodbev.com)
