Nestle May Soon Be Selling Its Butterfinger and BabyRuth Brands

Nestle, the Swiss food giant announced on Thursday that it may be selling its U.S. confectionery business. This unit is made of brands such as Butterfinger, Crunch, and BabyRuth and has annual sales of $922.89 million.

The company released a statement that said, “Nestle will explore strategic options for its U.S. confectionery business, including a potential sale.”

It was earlier this year in February that Ulf Mark Schneider, Nestle’s CEO, said on CNBC that the company would sell if it made “strategic sense.” He remarked that as far as mergers and acquisitions were concerned, that Nestle was “no stranger to that.”

He explained, “In fact some of the most strident deals of the 1980s that actually put the company on the map where it is today, as the world’s largest food and beverage company, those were coming from here.”

The company’s confectionery sales had declined for a fourth year last year and the company had said in February that U.S. sales were “disappointing.”

Nestle will be exploring for strategic options for the unit and the review will be completed by the end of the year.