Sara Lee To Sell Remaining Insecticides Business To SC Johnson

15th Jun 2010 13:49

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES Sara Lee Corp. (SLE) has reached an agreement to sell its remaining insecticides business to privately held household-products company S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. for EUR153.5 million ($188 million). The announcement came as the food maker moves to shed its noncore businesses. In late May, it sold its 51% stake in the Godrej Sara Lee joint venture, which included the company's other insecticides business. What S.C. Johnson is buying, which includes brands such as Ridsect and Bloom, generated sales of about EUR82 million in fiscal 2009. The products are sold in 41 overseas countries. Marcel Smits, Sara Lee's interim chief executive, said the deal "moves Sara Lee one step closer to focusing exclusively on our core food and beverage businesses, where we have strong competitive positions." Sara Lee also has agreements in place for Unilever PLC (UL, ULVR.LN) to buy its international body care business for EUR1.28 billion and for Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) to acquire its overseas air care business for EUR320 million. Sara Lee has been restructuring since 2005. It has recently seen better results as it has benefited from strength in its North American retail and international beverage segments, as well as increased volume. The packaged-food industry has been helped by consumers cutting back on eating at restaurants and instead spending more on groceries. Shares at Sara Lee closed at $14.78 Monday and weren't active premarket. The stock has risen 21% this year. -By Jodi Xu, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-3037; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 15, 2010 08:49 ET (12:49 GMT)