BERN, SWITZERLAND – Two Swiss companies are recalling consumer products: Ikea, toy trains and Migros, sugar-free sweets.
Ikea trains, electric shock risk
Ikea is voluntarily recalling IKEA 365+ SÄNDA 70 and 114 cm electric trains sold between September 2011 and March 2012. Owners of the trains should check if their products carry the code number 21338 and a manufacturing date (AASS, Année-Semaine) of “1134″ to 1208″. If so, they should stop using them immediately.
The trains are being recalled because of an earthing fault in the rails that could result in an electric shock if the rails or lights are touched.
Migros says sugar in sugar-free sweets could be health risk for diabetics
Migros is voluntarily recalling its Bonherba aux herbes, sans sucres (sugar-free) sweets, article number 1010.816, bags with the lot number L1654, sold between 7 March and 24 April. The bags contain some sugar and could be a health risk for diabetics. Bags returned to any Migros store will be refunded the full price, CHF3.60.
People with diabetes are asked not to eat the sweets, but the quality of them is fine and anyone else can eat them, says Migros.
The two companies’ product recalls are among several in April published by the Federal Consumer Protection Office. Also recalled: Elmex toothbrushes for children ages 3-6 and some Samsonite travel adaptors.
Complete list of product recalls, details
Nestle in Chinese sweets deal, Lonza goes for American biochem
Update 15:25 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Vevey-based Nestlé has entered into an agreement with the founding family of Hsu Fu Chi, one of China’s main snack and sweets manufacturers, with four large plants and 16,000 employees. In the deal worth CHF1.4 billion, the Swiss company will ultimately control 40 percent of the company, which is listed in Singapore.
The deal will need government approval.
Nestlé intends to acquire 60 percent of Hsu Fu Chi while the Hsu family will own the remaining 40 percent, the Vevey multinational said in a press release Monday 11 July. Hsu Fu Chi’s chairman and chief executive officer, Hsu Chen, will continue to lead the company in the new partnership.
The Swiss company says of the deal that Hsu Fu Chi has a large range of “affordable products”, with a portfolio that “includes sugar confectionery, cereal-based snacks, packaged cakes and the traditional Chinese snack sachima. Hsu Fu Chi’s products are tailored to Chinese consumers’ needs and habits, and complement Nestlé’s existing product portfolio in China, which includes culinary products, soluble coffee, bottled water, milk powder and products for the foodservice industry.”
Bloomberg points out that the Chinese company’s growth rate in 2010 was three times that of Nestle’s worldwide, noting that “Nestle’s Bulcke, 56, has set a goal of getting 45 percent of revenue from developing countries by 2020, compared with about a third now.”
Basel company takeover of US firm to create world’s largest microbial control firm
Basel-based Lonza will become the world’s largest microbial control company in terms of sales, which are estimated at CHF1.6 billion, once its agreement to buy Arch Chemicals, a Connecticut-based US company, goes through. The deal to take over Arch’s outstanding shares of common stock at a price of $47.20 per share in cash will give Arch Chemicals an enterprise value of $1.4 billion (approximately CHF 1.25 billion), the two companies said in a statement released Monday 11 July.
Lonza Group Ltd is one of the world’s largest suppliers to the pharmaceutical, healthcare and life science industries. Arch Chemicals, Inc. is a global biocides company that provides “innovative solutions to destroy or to selectively inhibit the growth of harmful microorganisms”.
Microbial control is the process of inhibiting or preventing the growth of microorganisms, generally by using agents that either kill them or inhibit their growth. Agents that kill or called “cidals” and those that inhibit are “static agents”.
“Currency factors will help Lonza in the case of Arch,” reports the Financial Times. “The group will borrow to finance the deal, benefiting both from ultra low US interest rates and the strength of the franc.”
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss federal government is warning consumers not to buy sweet jellies that come in small plastic containers, which pose a “high’ risk of suffocation, if the container is sucked into the windpipe when the sweet is swallowed. The products have been banned in Switzerland since 2002 but they have recently been reappearing in the country, mainly in Asian shops, says the government.
Vevey, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The ongoing guessing game about who will own Cadbury is expected to end Wednesday 6 January when Kraft unveils shareholder response to its hostile takeover bid for Cadbury, but Nestlé won’t be one of the owners. The Swiss-based Nestlé says it is not bidding on Cadbury, ending speculation that it would fight Kraft for the UK-based Cadbury sweets company. Nestlé has instead offered to buy Kraft’s pizza division, the leader in the US and Canada in the frozen pizza market.
Nestlé’s $3.7 billion offer for the pizza business is allowing Kraft to increase its cash offer for Cadbury.
The pizza deal covers a number of brands, including DiGiorno, Tombstone, California Pizza Kitchen, Jack’s and Delissio.
