Nestle announces partnership with Pierre Marcolini

VEVEY, Switzerland Swiss-based food giant Nestle on Thursday announced that it is partnering with Belgian company Pierre Marcolini as it aims to move into the growing premium and luxury chocolate market.

According to Nestle, the partnership will allow Pierre Marcolini to expand its network of boutiques while it helps Nestle create more brands of luxury chocolate, adding to such premium chocolates are Perugina, Baci and Nestle Noir. Both parties declined to reveal any financial details of the deal.

Nestle is currenlty the second-largest confectionary company in the world, after Cadbury, according to Euromonitor. For the first nine months of the 2007 tax year the company’s sales rose 5.4 percent, attributed by the company to the growing trend for premium dark chocolate bars, including Perugina Nero. The company also made several successful acquisitions, including Russian chocolate manufacturer Ruzskaya Confectionary Factory last month.