April 17 2009 (FoodBizDaily) - Nestle made the announcement on Thursday that it had given its consent on selling Saint Spring, the Russian water bottling company, to IDS Group.
IDS Group is the bottler for Borjomi, the Georgian carbonated mineral water.
According to Nestle, its bottled water business was the only division which had not generated enough in revenue and was the sole Nestle business to mark a decline in sales in the year 2008. This prompted Nestle to make an assessment of the situation on this regard, and, in February, Nestle announced that it had decided to cut down investment in its bottled water business.
It was in the year 2002 that Saint Springs was taken over by Nestle. However, no details on the financial aspects of the sale were furnished by the company. The sale is still awaiting clearance from the regulators.
Nestle clarified that the company would go on building up the distribution of the Perrier, Vittel, and San Pelegrino brands in Russia as well as carry on bottling activities under the brand name Nestle Pure Life.
FoodBizDaily.com - Staff writer