Sara Lee to sell its North American Fresh Bakery business to Mexico's Grupo Bimbo

2010-11-09 19:57:42 GMT+7 (ICT)

DOWNERS GROVE, ILLINOIS (BNO NEWS) -- Sara Lee on Tuesday announced it has signed an agreement to sell its North American Fresh Bakery business to Mexico's Grupo Bimbo, one of the world's largest baking companies, for $959 million.

The company said in a statement that the transaction is anticipated to close during the first half of calendar year 2011.

"This strategic move will further enable Sara Lee to aggressively drive growth in our core coffee and protein categories, organically and through acquisitions," said Marcel Smits, interim CEO of Sara Lee Corp.

As a part of this transaction, Sara Lee will retain the right to sell Sara Lee branded frozen desserts and protein products, and Grupo Bimbo will have the rights to the Sara Lee brand in the fresh baked goods category globally, with the exception of Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

In addition to the national fresh bakery brand Sara Lee, the acquisition provides Grupo Bimbo with a collection of leading regional bakery brands such as Grandma Sycamore's, Heiner's and Rainbo.

As part of the transaction, all of Sara Lee's approximately 13,000 North American Fresh Bakery employees will transfer to Grupo Bimbo.

The sale also includes 41 plants in the U.S. and approximately 4,700 bakery routes, as well as a small piece of foodservice bakery business, which is in the North American Foodservice business.

According to Sara Lee, in the 12 months ended October 2, 2010, the North American Fresh Bakery business generated $2.1 billion in adjusted net sales1 and $38 million in adjusted operating segment income.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2010-11-09

Not to worry, the hoisery business is safe: All you ladies wearing "nylons" and you gents from pattaya with your suppport hose, rest assured, that one of the world's largest manufacturers is still in business.