Lindt to raise prices, wants Godiva - magazine

ZURICH, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Swiss chocolate maker Lindt & Spruengli (LISP.S) (LISN.S) will raise prices by up to 10 percent and is interested in buying Campbell Soup Co.'s (CPB.N) Godiva Chocolatier brand, the group's head was quoted as saying.

"Depending on the country, prices will rise between 6 and 10 percent. The price rises will come into effect in January 2008," CEO Ernst Tanner said in an interview with twice-monthly Swiss magazine Bilanz, due to be published on Friday.

Like other food companies Lindt & Spruengli is facing soaring prices for ingredients such as cocoa and milk, but the group has said it did not expect the higher raw material prices to weigh on margins.

Tenner also repeated that the group was interested in buying Godiva.

"Campbell Soup ... has given an investment bank a mandate to look at a possible sale and to conduct it. We will analyse the documents as soon as they are available," he said.

In August Campbell said it was exploring alternatives for Godiva, including a sale, saying the premium chocolate business did not fit with its focus on simple meals.

Godiva, originally a Belgian chocolate-maker, could attract a price of more than $1 billion, analysts say. It has annual sales of about $500 million, while Lindt had 2006 sales of 2.6 billion Swiss francs ($2.20 billion).

Analysts have questioned whether a deal would make sense, since the two companies operate different business models.

But Tanner said the two groups were a good match.

"Godiva is a premium brand so it would fit ... It would have to boost the profitability of the Lindt group," Tanner said.

Tanner expects Lindt & Spruengli sales in the United States to reach around $600 million in 2007 and said sales of $900 million in the United States were realistic by 2010.