Nestle sells Nerds, Crunch and other US brands Worth $2.8bn to Ferrero

Nestle is selling its US sweets and chocolate business to Ferrero Group for 2.7bn Swiss Francs ($2.8bn; £2bn).

The Swiss food giant said it was offloading brands such as Crunch, Nerds, Runts and Butterfinger to focus on other products.

Italy’s Ferrero, which makes Nutella spread, Tic Tac and Ferrero Rocher, will become the US’s third biggest confectionery maker.

The deal is expected to go through by March this year.

Ferrero said the brands would give it “substantially greater scale” and “a broader offering of high-quality products” for US customers.

The US confectionary market is the largest in the world, worth about $8bn a year according to Ibis World.

The US confectionary market is the largest in the world, worth about $8bn a year according to Ibis World.