Yıldız Holding’s biscuit, chocolate and candy group Ülker is in talks with McCormick & Company, a U.S.-based producer of flavored products including spices, according to Ülker spokeswoman Zuhal Şeker. Newspaper report suggest the pair are discussing plans to launch a partnership in the Turkish market

Turkey’s Ülker Group is in talks for a distribution accord with McCormick & Company, a U.S.-based producer of flavored products including spices, Ülker spokeswoman Zuhal Şeker told Bloomberg.

The two sides have held negotiations recently and talks are continuing, she said in a telephone interview in Istanbul on Thursday. “The talks are being held for a distribution agreement but nothing has been finalized yet.”

Ülker shares headed for a two-year high earlier Thursday after the daily Millyet said Ülker was interested in McCormick. Ülker gained 6 kuruş, or 1.6 percent, to hit 3.90 Turkish Liras at 12:30 p.m. when the first trading session ended.

Milliyet published rumors of talks between Yıldız Holding’s biscuit, chocolate, candy unit, Ülker, and Baltimore-based McCormick & Company on Thursday morning.

According to the report, Ülker is in talks with the company with the aim of launching a partnership in the Turkish market. In the past, Ülker has made similar moves with Kellogg’s, the world's leading producer of cereal and a leading producer of convenience foods, and Swiss food company Hero.

Ülker, which purchased Belgian Godiva in 2007 for $850 million, also set up a 50-50 joint venture called Continental Confectionery Company with Danish-based Gunlink last year.

Atilla Kurama, a Yıldız Holding executive board member, had previously told Milliyet the company was working on potential partnership deals that could enable the company to further grow on a global scale. He highlighted the company’s positive approach to international partnership offers.

McCormick & Company was established in 1889 in Baltimore by Willoughby M. McCormick. From one room and a cellar, the initial products were sold door-to-door and included root beer, flavoring extracts, fruit syrups and juices. McCormick, who started the business with the slogan, “Do the best, someone will buy,” then bought the F.G. Emmett Spice Company, thereby entering that industry in 1896.

Today the company is the global leader in the manufacture, marketing, and distribution of spices, herbs and flavorings for the retail, commercial, and industrial markets.

The company currently employs 8,000 people and had net sales worth $3.1 billion in 2008.

Established by Sabri Ülker in 1944, Yıldız Holding started its operations with only three employees. The company produced 75 tons of biscuits in its first year. At the beginning of the 1990s, the firm adopted a strategy of diversifying the sectors in which it operates.

In 1993, the company’s first international partnership was established with Europe’s largest starch producer, Cerestar. The company later established a partnership with Swiss Hero and started baby food production in 2003.

In 2005, Ülker signed a deal with Kellogg’s, allowing it to put its name on Kellogg’s boxes sold in Turkey. The company is still holding talks over a possible partnership deal with Laurens Spethmann Holding, Europe’s leading tea producer.

McCormick & Company owns several brands around the world, including McCormick, Schilling, Zatarain’s, Old Bay Seasoning, Ducros, Club House, Billy Bee Honey, Schwartz, McCormick Foods Australia, Thai Kitchen, Simply Asia, Lawry’s and Adolph’s