Hershey has agreed to acquire the 49% stake in Godrej Hershey joint venture (JV) that it does not own, primarily from Godrej Industries and another minority shareholder.

The US-based chocolate and sugar confectionery maker will own the Maha Lacto and Nutrine candy brands as well as the Jumpin and Sofit beverage brands, and the related manufacturing facilities.

Jumpin is available in 2 flavors: Mango and Apple. Sofit soy milk is a sugar free beverage available in - Strawberry, Mango, Apple, Kesar-Pista, Chocolate and Coffee flavors.

The new entity will be renamed as Hershey India as it becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Hershey.

Hershey president and CEO JP Bilbrey said that confectionery and beverage category growth in India is encouraging and they are excited about opportunities.

"We'll make the necessary investments in India to accelerate growth, leveraging our core strengths and business model," Bilbrey added.

The transaction allows Hershey to integrate Godrej Hershey into its global business platform and leverage corporate resources across the chocolate and sweets and refreshment strategic business units.

Hershey India managing director Matthew Lindsay said, "Leveraging the learnings from our Godrej partnership and the strong management team in place, we are excited to move forward in this rapidly growing market."

The Godrej Hershey JV had net sales of about $80m for the year ended 31 December 2011. When the JV was announced in 2007, annual net sales were about $70m.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of the third quarter of the company's financial year.