Nestle and North Yorkshire’s R&R complete ice cream joint venture deal

North Yorkshire’s R&R Ice Cream and Nestlé have finally completed a deal to launch the ice cream and frozen food joint venture, Froneri.

The 50/50 joint venture will be headquartered in the UK and have sites in Europe, the Middle East, (excluding Israel), Argentina, Australia, Brazil, the Philippines and South Africa.

Froneri is also set to include Nestlé’s European frozen food business, excluding pizza and retail frozen food in Italy, as well as its chilled dairy business in the Philippines.

Based in Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire, R&R is one of Europe’s largest ice cream manufacturer and was acquired by French private equity group PAI Partners in 2013 for approximately €850m.

R&R’s ice cream brands include Cadbury Flake Cones, Rowntree’s Fruit Pastille lollies, Kelly’s Cornish ice cream and Oreo ice cream.

Froneri’s board of directors is chaired by Luis Cantarell, Nestlé’s Executive Vice President, Europe, Middle East and North Africa and its CEO is Ibrahim Najafi, formerly CEO of R&R.