Sara Lee to sell European dough business to Sagard

American consumer goods company Sara Lee is in exclusive talks with Franco-Canadian private equity firm Sagard to sell its European chilled dough business, Eurodough, for €115m.

The deal is expected to be finalised in the next 90 days, and is subject to regulatory approval.

Eurodough, based in France, is a leading chilled dough company with a presence in Belgium, Denmark, Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden.

The company, which has three manufacturing plants, posted net sales of $184m in the fiscal 2011.

Sara Lee executive chairman of the board Jan Bennink said that the sale of Eurodough advances the company’s strategy of creating two pure-play publicly traded companies – one focused on the international coffee and tea business and the other on North American meat brands.

"This transaction would complete the divestment of Sara Lee’s European bakery operations and enable our international business to focus on its core coffee and tea activities," Bennink said.

Sara Lee recently completed the sale of its North American fresh bakery business and has agreed to sell its fresh bakery business in Spain and Portugal in a deal that is likely to close by the end of fiscal 2011.

If the deal in France goes through, Sara Lee expects to gain over $1bn in proceeds from its North American and European bakery units.