Danone keeping eye on acquisitions
General view inside the exhibition to mark the 90th anniversary of the French foods company Danone which is best known for it's yoghurt, in Paris April 2, 2009.
Credit: Reuters/Jacky Naegelen
By Dominique Vidalon and Noelle Mennella
PARIS | Thu Sep 15, 2011 8:51am EDT
PARIS (Reuters) - French food group Danone ( DANO.PA) is keeping an eye on acquisition opportunities and mulling entering the baby food market in Mexico, its finance head said.
Danone, which recently confirmed its financial goals for 2011, has "no particular worries" about its business despite the current economic climate, Chief Financial Officer Pierre-Andre Terisse told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.
Terisse would not comment on market talk that Danone was looking at Pfizer's ( PFE.N) Wyeth baby formula business after having bought Dutch baby food maker Numico in 2007 for 12.3 billion euros ($16.8 billion).
"In terms of acquisitions, we are keeping an eye on everything that's going on worldwide and we try to assess how opportunities that arise match our development needs," Terisse said. "We do this all the time and will continue to do so without it being an obsession."
A banking source close to the situation said last month that European food groups Nestle ( NESN.VX) and Danone were the early front runners working on bids for Wyeth worth up to $10 billion.
Danone has been seeking to expand in six markets growing at double-digit percentage rates: Mexico, Indonesia, China, Russia, the United States and Brazil.
Danone competes with Nestle and Unilever ( ULVR.L) and owns international brands such as Activia yoghurts, Evian and Volvic waters, and Bledina baby food. It had 2010 sales of 17 billion euros and has a market value of 28 billion euros.
($1 = 0.731 Euros)
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