Danone to buy Numico

French food group Danone has offered to buy Dutch baby food manufacturer Numico with a surprise bid of more than 12 billion euros.

Numico is the world's second largest manufacturer of baby
food after Nestle. Numico is growing faster than Danone and its turnover has
been growing by 10 to 12 percent annually in recent years.
    Numico will remain independent
within Danone, with a head office at Schiphol and its own research laboratory
at Wageningen. It will become the third branch of the French food company
alongside Evian (water) and Danone (dairy products).
Nestle recently reinforced its baby food division with the acquisition
of Gerber which is active on the US market.