Nestle Japan Holdings Ltd. and Snow Brand Milk Products Co. announced Wednesday that they have agreed to set up a joint venture on Feb. 1 to promote a range of products.
Nestle Snow Co., whose head office will be located in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward, will deal with yogurt, lactic fermented drinks, chilled drinks except milk, and desserts, including pudding and jelly.
Following the introduction of Nestle Japan's quality control system, Snow Brand will take charge of production and sales of Nestle Snow's products while Nestle will work on marketing.
Snow Brand formed the partnership last September with Nestle Japan, a wholly owned subsidiary of Swiss-based Nestle SA, in an attempt to rebuild its reputation after a food-poisoning scandal last summer.
The latest joint venture is the first project of the partnership and the two firms will consider more projects, including an ice cream business and the launch a new series of cold coffee drinks, under a Nestle brand next month, a Snow Brand official said.
The venture, to be capitalized at 20 million yen and with each company holding a 50 percent stake, will employ five people from each company.
The new firm is forecast to earn 5 billion yen this year and increase its annual sales to 20 billion yen over the next five years, said Shuji Tobita, a business group manager of Nestle Japan, who will become president of Nestle Snow.