Mumbai: Cadbury Schweppes has agreed to acquire Intergum, a Turkish gum business, from the Amram family for $450 million (£225 million) in cash and assumed debt. The acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approval by the Turkish Competition Board, is expected to complete in the third quarter of 2007.

"The acquisition of Intergum will strengthen our participation in the fast-growing Turkish confectionery market and enhance our presence in the attractive Turkish gum market, which grew 17 per cent last year. We also expect to benefit from Intergum''s strong capabilities, particularly in the manufacturing of value-added gum products, such as gum base and centre-filled gum, at low cost," Cadbury Schweppes said in a statement.

Intergum had a 46 per cent share of the Turkish gum market in 2006, according to AC Nielsen, and had revenue of $109 million, of which approximately 25 per cent was from exports.

"The purchase of Intergum is aligned with our strategy of pursuing bolt-on acquisitions to further strengthen our confectionery platform. We already have the largest emerging markets business of any confectionery company, and acquiring Intergum adds to our presence in these high-growth markets. Intergum is also highly complementary to our current operations in Turkey, where we have a leading position in the candy market. We look forward to Intergum joining Cadbury Schweppes," Todd Stitzer, CEO, said.

Cadbury Schweppes is the world''s largest confectionery company and has strong regional beverages businesses in North America and Australia. In March this year, Cadbury Schweppes announced that it intends to separate its confectionery and Americas Beverages businesses.

Cadbury Schweppes'' products include brands such as Cadbury, Schweppes, Halls, Trident, Dr Pepper, Snapple, Trebor, Dentyne, Bubblicious and Bassett and are marketed in almost every country around the world. The group employs over 70,000 people worldwide.

Intergum has two principal chewing gum brands - ''First'' in sugar-free gum and ''Falim'' in sugarless gum. It has also a small bubble gum business. Intergum also exports to the Middle East, the Balkans, and Russia and the CIS under the chewing gum brands ''O2'', `Love is'' and `Taxi'', and with centre-filled bubble-gum under the `Freshbol'' brand. Intergum has one manufacturing plant in Istanbul and approximately 1,200 employees.