Dreyer’s Antitrust Cares Should Melt Away

A lead banker who arranged the $2.46 billion deal for Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream Inc. to acquire Nestle SA’s U.S. ice cream business said the second request from the Federal Trade Commission shouldn’t amount to much. If anything, the agency will just force Dreyer’s to stop providing distribution services to some of its competitors, he said. On June 17, the firms announced Dreyer’s agreed to acquire Nestle’s domestic ice cream business for 55 million shares of newly issued Dreyer’s stock. Nestle, which already owns 24% of Dreyer’s, will own 67% of the new firm. Nestle’s ice cream brands include Haagen Dazs, and Dreyer’s ice cream products include Edy’s, Starbucks and Godiva. Together the new business will have $2.1 billion in domestic sales, controlling the largest piece of the domestic ice cream market-25%. Next in line is Unilever NV, which controls 19%, with Ben & Jerry’s and Breyers. The global market for ice cream is roughly $25 billion.