Dreyer's gobbles up maker of Skinny Cow for $70 million

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jul 27, 2004 by Associated Press

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Joining the low-carbohydrate craze, Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream Holdings Inc. said Monday it bought Silhouette Brands Inc. for $70 million in cash.

Silhouette of New York makes the popular Skinny Cow and Skinny Carb ice cream bars and had announced in February it was seeking to be acquired.

For Dreyer's, which has an ice cream-making plant in Salt Lake City, the acquisition is the continuation of an ice cream buying binge. In February, the Oakland company gobbled up the U.S. rights to Haagen-Dazs ice cream, including ownership of 236 stores.

Dreyer's is the No. 1 ice cream company by sales in the United States and had been Silhouette's distributor for the entire nation.

Dreyer's paid Silhouette stockholders $4.76 for each common stock share and $6.56 for each preferred stock share held. The common stock price represented a 15 percent premium over Silhouette's closing stock price of $4.15 Friday in over-the-counter trading.

Dreyer's stock fell 3 cents to close at $79.27 Monday on the Nasdaq Stock Market.