An agreement to form a joint venture between dairy giant Nestlé and equity house, PAI Partners, owners of UK’s R&R Ice Cream, has been concluded after being in discussion since last October, according to Reuters.

The plan is to sell ice cream and frozen foods to more than 20 countries following a review in Nestlé which showed that the company had been weakened by the slowdown in emerging markets, a change in consumer tastes towards fresher foods and more intense competition.

The 50/50 joint venture will be called Froneri and combine the Nestlé and R&R ice cream businesses in the EU, Middle East, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, the Philippines and South Africa.

The new company will utilise Nestlé’s strong brands and presence in convenience stores and ice cream stands with R&R’s manufacturing ability and access to traditional traders.

Strong ice cream business

Even though Nestlé has a stated goal of becoming a more health-focused company, it will keep its stronger ice cream business in Asia and most of the Americas, and its position as the world’s second-largest ice cream maker behind Unilever.

Financial terms were not disclosed but the joint venture will be a close number three player with projected annual sales of €2.42bn and 15,000 employees.

Foneri will be based in the UK where it has plans to list on the London Stock Exchange.

Nestlé already is involved in joint ventures with US cereal manufacturer General Mills, and French Dairy processor Lactalis.