Mars to buy Britain’s Hotel Chocolat for USD662m

Mars will buy Britain’s Hotel Chocolat for USD662m. Set up 20 years ago, Hotel Chocolat’s stated aim was to make chocolate exciting and it succeeded in bringing ethical affordable luxury to the British high street.

The brand opened its first store nearly 20 years ago in north London and has since grown to 131 UK stores, in addition to cafés and restaurants. It also has stores in Japan and a working cocoa farm, complete with a luxury eco-hotel, in the Caribbean.

Mars is one of the world’s biggest food companies and the US’s fourth-largest private firm, with brands ranging from Snickers confectionery to Pedigree dog food and Dolmio pasta sauces. Mars employs 140,000 people around the world, of which 10,000 are in the UK.

Mars, which is still owned by the Mars family, said it would use its international might to expand Hotel Chocolat’s brand in the UK and abroad. However, it said it would keep Hotel Chocolat’s UK manufacturing.

The deal is expected to complete by the end of January.