Acquisition closed
Nestlé acquires Carnation (1985)
Nestlé completed the acquisition of Carnation on 4 January 1985 for $3 billion.[1]
Nestlé acquired Carnation for about $3 billion, at the time the largest acquisition ever made outside the oil industry. It brought evaporated milk, Coffee mate and Friskies into the group and established Nestlé as a major American food company rather than a European one selling abroad.
Deal facts
- Announced
- Closed
- Value
- $3 billion (equity value)
- Buyer
- Nestlé
- Seller
- —
- Assets
- Carnation
- Regulatory review
- None recorded
Ownership changes recorded from this deal
Who owns Carnation today?
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Nestlé S.A. — company history and acquisitions — Nestlé S.A., Annual report, published 4 January 1985; retrieved 8 September 2026.
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