UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BEFORE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
In the Matter of
NESTLÉ HOLDINGS, INC., a corporation,
DREYER'S GRAND ICE CREAM HOLDINGS, INC., a corporation,
and
DREYER'S GRAND ICE CREAM, INC., a corporation. |
File No. 021-0174 |
AGREEMENT CONTAINING CONSENT ORDERS
The Federal Trade Commission ("Commission"), having initiated an investigation of the
acquisition by Nestlé Holdings, Inc. ("Nestlé") of certain voting securities of Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream
Holdings, Inc., which as a result of the transaction will be the parent of Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, Inc.
(Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream Holdings, Inc. and Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, Inc. hereinafter collectively
"Dreyer's"), and it now appearing that Nestlé and Dreyer's, hereinafter sometimes referred to as
"Proposed Respondents," and Nestlé S.A. are willing to enter into this Agreement Containing Consent
Orders ("Consent Agreement") to divest certain assets and provide for other relief:
IT IS HEREBY AGREED by and between Proposed Respondents, by their duly authorized
officers and attorneys, and counsel for the Commission that:
1. Proposed Respondent Nestlé is a corporation
organized and existing under the laws of the State of Delaware, with its
principal place of business
at 383 Main Avenue, Fifth Floor, Norwalk,
Connecticut 06851.
2. Proposed Respondents Dreyer's are corporations organized and existing
under the laws of the State of Delaware, with their principal place of business
at 5929 College Avenue, Oakland,
California 94618.
3. Nestlé S.A. is a corporation organized, existing, and doing business
under, and by virtue of, the laws of Switzerland, with its principal executive
offices located at Avenue Nestlé 55, CH-1800 Vevey, Switzerland.
4. Proposed Respondents and Nestlé S.A. admit
all the jurisdictional facts set forth in the
draft of Complaint here attached.
5. Proposed Respondents and Nestlé S.A. waive:
a. any further procedural steps;
b. the requirement that the Commission's Decision and Order and the Order
to Maintain Assets, both attached hereto and made a part hereof,
contain a statement of findings of
fact and conclusions of law;
c. all rights to seek judicial review or otherwise to challenge or contest
the validity of the Decision and Order or Order to Maintain
Assets entered pursuant to this Consent
Agreement; and
d. any claim under the Equal Access to Justice Act.
6. The Decision and Order and the Order to Maintain
Assets attached to this Consent Agreement are incorporated into and made
a part of this Consent
Agreement.
This Consent
Agreement is for settlement purposes only and does not constitute an admission
by Proposed
Respondents or Nestlé S.A. that the law has been violated as alleged
in the draft Complaint here attached, or that the facts as alleged in the draft
Complaint, other than jurisdictional facts, are true.
7. Proposed Respondents shall submit an initial report
no later than twenty (20) days after the date that they execute this Consent
Agreement and every
thirty (30) days thereafter until the
Decision and Order becomes final, pursuant to Section 2.33 of the Commission's
Rules, 16 C.F.R. § 2.33, signed by the Proposed Respondents setting forth
in detail the manner in which the Proposed Respondents have complied with,
have prepared to comply with,
and will comply with their respective
obligations under the Decision and Order and the Order to Maintain Assets. Such
reports will not become part of the public record unless and until the accompanying
Consent Agreement and Decision
and Order are accepted by the Commission for public comment.
8. The Commission may issue its Complaint and an Order to Maintain Assets
in this matter at any time after it accepts the Consent Agreement for public
comment.
9. This Consent Agreement shall not become part of the public record of
the proceeding unless and until it is accepted by the Commission. If this
Consent
Agreement is accepted by the
Commission, it, together with the Complaint contemplated hereby, will be placed
on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days and information in
respect thereto publicly released. The Commission
thereafter may either withdraw its acceptance of this Consent Agreement and so
notify Proposed Respondents, in which event it will take such action as it
may consider appropriate, or issue or amend
its Complaint (as the circumstances may require) and issue its Decision and Order,
in disposition of the
proceeding.
10. This Consent Agreement contemplates that, if it
is accepted by the Commission, the Commission may (1) issue and serve its
Complaint corresponding
in form
and substance with the draft
of Complaint here attached, (2) issue and serve its Order to Maintain Assets,
and (3) make information public with respect thereto. If such acceptance
is not subsequently withdrawn by the Commission
pursuant to the provisions of Commission Rule 2.34, 16 C.F.R. § 2.34, the
Commission may, without further notice to the Proposed Respondents, issue the
attached Decision and Order containing an order
to divest in disposition of the proceeding. When final, the Decision and Order
and the Order to Maintain Assets shall have the same force and effect and may
be altered, modified or set aside in the
same manner and within the same time provided by statute for other orders.
The Decision and Order and Order to Maintain Assets shall become final upon service.
Delivery of the Complaint, Decision and
Order and Order to Maintain Assets to Proposed Respondents by any means specified
in Commission
Rule 4.4(a), 16 C.F.R. § 4.4(a), or to Proposed Respondents' counsel shall
constitute service. The Proposed Respondents waive any right they may have to
any other manner of service. The Complaint
may be used in construing the terms of the Decision and Order and Order to Maintain
Assets, and no agreement, understanding, representation, or interpretation not
contained in the Decision and Order,
Order to Maintain Assets, or the Consent Agreement may be used to vary or contradict
the terms of
the Decision and Order or the Order to Maintain Assets.
11. By signing this Consent Agreement, Proposed Respondents
and Nestlé S.A.
represent and warrant that they can comply with the provisions of the attached
Decision and Order and the Order
to Maintain Assets, and that all parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, and successors
necessary to effectuate the full relief contemplated by this Consent Agreement
are parties to the Consent Agreement and are
bound thereby as if they had signed this Consent Agreement and were made parties
to this proceedings
and to the orders.
12. Proposed Respondents and Nestlé S.A. have read the draft Complaint,
Decision and Order, and Order to Maintain Assets contemplated hereby. Proposed
Respondents and Nestlé S.A.
understand that once the Decision and Order and Order to Maintain Assets have
been issued, they will be required to file one or more compliance reports
showing that they have fully complied with the
orders. Proposed Respondents and Nestlé S.A. agree to comply with the
proposed Decision and Order and Order to Maintain Assets, as applicable, from
the date they sign this Consent Agreement.
Proposed Respondents and Nestlé S.A. understand that they may be liable
for civil penalties in the amount provided by law for each violation of the Decision
and Order and Order to Maintain Assets, as
applicable, after they become final.
Signed this ____ day of June, 2003
NESTLÉ HOLDINGS, INC.:
By:
______________________________
Joe
Weller
CEO and President
Nestlé Holdings, Inc.
NESTLÉ S.A.:
By:
______________________________
James
M. Singh
Senior Vice President - Acquisitions
and Business Development
Nestlé S.A.
______________________________
Roxann Henry
Counsel for Nestlé Holdings, Inc.
and Nestlé S.A.
DREYER'S GRAND ICE CREAM, INC.:
By:
______________________________
T.
Gary Rogers
Chairman and CEO
Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, Inc.
DREYER'S GRAND ICE CREAM
HOLDINGS, INC.:
By:
______________________________
T.
Gary Rogers
Chairman and CEO
Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream Holdings,
Inc.
______________________________
Joseph D. Larson
Counsel for Dreyer's Grand Ice
Cream, Inc. and Dreyer's Grand Ice
Cream Holdings, Inc.
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION:
By:
______________________________
Catherine
M. Moscatelli
Deputy Assistant Director
Bureau of Competition
Approved:
______________________________
Michael G. Cowie
Assistant Director
Bureau of Competition
______________________________
Susan Creighton
Deputy Director
Bureau of Competition
______________________________
Joseph J. Simons
Director
Bureau of Competition
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