PepsiCo goes nuts for Sara Lee

Sara Lee has reached an agreement on the principal terms and conditions for the sale of its European nuts and snacks business in the Netherlands, Belgium and France to PepsiCo for €130 million.

Signing of a final agreement is subject to the satisfactory outcome of works council proceedings and approval from the Dutch Competitions Authority.

As part of Sara Lee’s transformation plan announced in February, the company identified European nuts and snacks as a non-core business that would be sold.

The European nuts and snacks business, which generated approximately €88 million in annual sales in fiscal 2005, markets products under the Duyvis brand in the Netherlands and Belgium as well as the Bénénuts brand in France.

Sara Lee intends to use the proceeds from this sale to support its previously announced priorities for driving shareholder value through its dividend, a multi-year, $2 billion share repurchase program, and debt repayment.