Nestlé £3m ambient ad business up for grabs as brands are sold

Nestlé’s ambient food brands advertising business, worth £3m, is to be put up for review following a decision by US private equity group Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst to buy the business for an estimated £120m.

Nestlé’s ambient food brands advertising business, worth &£3m, is to be put up for review following a decision by US private equity group Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst to buy the business for an estimated &£120m.

Advertising for this division of the business is handled by Publicis and McCann-Erickson, but the company has not actively promoted the brands in recent months.

The Nestlé brands to be sold include the Crosse & Blackwell ranges and Sun-Pat spreads. They were put up for sale in January, after Nestlé announced its intention to strengthen its presence in the chilled dairy sector with the acquisition of Ski and Munch Bunch from Northern Foods.

The brands will pass to Hick Muse’s UK grocery business Premier International Foods. Premier’s advertising is divided between Clemmow Hornby Inge and Delaney Lund Knox Warren. The media account for Nestlé’s ambient food business is handled by Universal McCann and is likely to pass to Zenith Media, which is Premier’s media buying agency.

Last week, Nestlé started a review of its media business across its food and confectionery divisions. Universal McCann and MindShare are pitching against each other for the &£60m account (MW May 2). The move follows a corporate review caused by its sell-offs and acquisitions.