As part of
its divestiture program, Sara Lee Corp. (NYSE:SLE) recently sold its coffee brands to Farmer Brothers Co. for $45 million and closed its Chicago kosher business, putting it on the block. Now, it looks like Sara Lee is
examining a sale of its European household and personal-care business, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the matter.
Downer Groves, Ill.-based Sara Lee reportedly hired Goldman, Sachs & Co. (NYSE:GS) to sell the household business, which accounts for about 15% of the company's sales and could fetch about $2 billion. The company, which owns food brands Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm and Ball Park Franks, saw its net income dropped to $213 million for the six months ended Dec. 27 from $382 million in the prior period, and it even lost $17 million in its last quarter.
The Journal said possible bidders for the household unit include Unilever plc, Reckitt Benckiser Group plc, S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. and Colgate-Palmolive Co., whose former president, William Shanahan, has been acting as an adviser to ValueAct Capital Management LP.
ValueAct increased its stake in Sara Lee to about 5% last year and placed
Jeffrey Ubben on the board. Our sister blog Dealscape said Ubben brought his hybrid background of value investing, activism and private equity to the board of Sara Lee. -
Baz HiralalGo to the WSJ story
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