LONDON (Reuters) - Pladis, the owner of Godiva chocolate and McVitie's biscuits, has decided not to bid for Nestle's NESN.S U.S. confectionery assets, preferring to pursue a more upmarket strategy.

A worker inspects biscuits on the production line of Pladis' McVities factory in London Britain, September 19, 2017. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls.

Chief Executive Cem Karakas had earlier told Reuters the Turkish-owned company was looking at the U.S. portfolio Nestle put on the block in June, which includes regional mass-market brands such as Butterfinger, Crunch and 100 Grand and could be valued at around $2 billion.

Late on Friday, Karakas said Pladis, which is owned by Turkey’s Yildiz Holding, had decided to pass.

“Nestle North American assets at the end did not seem to have a feasible complementarity to our existing business there, hence we decided not to bid,” Karakas said.

“As premium chocolate is the only continuously growing segment in recent years in North America and Western Europe, and we are uniquely positioned in this space, we will continue to invest there,” he added.

Nestle said in June it might sell its U.S. confectionery business, the latest sign of pressure on the North American market following last year's failed bid by Mondelez International MDLZ.O for Hershey HSY.N.

The sale of the business has attracted other potential suitors including Lemonheads owner Ferrara.

Pladis was formed last year when Yildiz combined its Godiva, United Biscuits and DeMet's Candy business with its own Ulker ULKER.IS business in a UK-based company. It plans to list on the London stock exchange by 2020 or 2021.

The company is interested in more bolt-on acquisitions that give it manufacturing capacity or distribution in particular markets, Karakas said.

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The global confectionery market will have retail sales of about $102.5 billion this year, according to Euromonitor.

Over the past five years, higher-end brands such as Ferrero Rocher, Lindor and Ritter have all grown more than 7 percent, while mass-market brands like Cadbury, Hershey’s and Mars have grown about 3 percent or less.

Consumers’ preference for artisanal or high quality brands offsets some of the pressure exerted by growing health consciousness and moves away from sugary snacks.

BRANCHING OUT

Pladis is aiming to double its chocolate sales by the end of 2019, and turn Godiva into a 2 billion pound a year brand by 2021.

It has been working toward that goal with this year’s supermarket launch of Godiva chocolate bars, in flavors including blood orange, hazelnut and caramel. The move is aimed at expanding the brand away from the luxury boutiques where it has largely been sold.

The launch began in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Gulf, followed by the United States, Britain, the Netherlands and China.

In the next couple of months, the new bars - which in Britain cost 1.50 pounds ($2) on promotion at supermarket Sainsbury's SBRY.L - will go on sale in Sweden and South Africa.

Godiva will generate annual supermarket sales of 500 million pounds by 2021, Karakas said, up from about 120 million pounds now. It currently generates about 800 million pounds of sales from boutiques, department stores, duty-free shops and online.

Yildiz, Turkey’s largest food group, has since 2007 spent $850 million to buy Godiva, as well as an estimated 2 billion pounds on United Biscuits and $221 million on DeMet’s, maker of Flipz chocolate pretzels.

Pladis, which does not include the larger Godiva retail store network, is on track for revenue of 3.2 billion pounds by the end of 2019, up from 2.2 billion pounds last year.

“It seems that with a bit of a stretch, we’ll be able to get there,” Karakas said. Pladis has hired a raft of senior managers from diverse industries to infuse the company with new ideas. Karakas is counting on a start-up mentality to accelerate sales.

“We are going to accelerate,” he said. “It’s very obvious and very doable.”

Sales rose 8 percent in the first half of the year, about twice the industry average, he said. He hopes to end the year with double-digit growth.