Tag Archive | "sara lee corp"

Unilever Gets Approval to Buy Sara Lee Unit by Kenya


Unilever, a British-Dutch consumer goods corporation, gets the approval of Kenya to buy Sara Lee Corp’s ancillary in the east African nation, according to a government notice presented on Friday.

An Unilever official who does not want to be named stated that the company had purchased Sara Lee’s local body care businesses.

As a dual-listed company, Unilever consists of Unilever N.V. in Rotterdam, Netherlands and Unilever PLC in London, United Kingdom. It owns world’s several consumer product brands in beverages, foods and other home and personal items.

In fact, they own 400 brands through acquisition but they focus on their 13 “billion-dollar brands” that achieve more than €1 billion annual sales.

Sara Lee, also a global consumer-goods company, has sold a number of brands for the past five years. This is considered as part of a strategic move from a once rambling company that sold everything from underwear to hotdogs to one that is focused on its core coffee and protein businesses.

The European commission granted Unilever’s $1.3 billion agreement to purchase Sara Lee’s body care unit. Sara Lee even mentioned that it had received a strong interest in its remaining household businesses.

Sara Lee Kenya LTD engages in the promotion of shoe care products, which comprises of cleaners, polishes, and wax under the Kiwi brand. They also include insecticides under the Ridsect brand.

Sara Lee Corporation is actually based in USA. However, it has operations in more than 40 countries, which includes Kenya, and sells its consumer goods in over 180 nations around the world.

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Sara Lee, No Plans Yet in Getting U.S Coffee Deals


Sara Lee Corp is not rushing in to make any deals in the U.S coffee market even though they are focusing their business on coffee and meat, according to a statement given by its interim chief executive.

There are already rumors spreading about certain business deals in the U.S coffee market especially since Starbucks Corp had announced earlier this month that they want to end their distribution deal with the Kraft Foods Inc who has been selling their packaged coffee products at various supermarkets since 1998.

Starbucks is also making the coffee pods for Kraft’s one-cup Tassimo coffee brewer, which is a significant competitor of Sara Lee’s Senseo coffee system.

Sara Lee and Starbucks are two of the world’s biggest coffee companies. The image of heightened competition between these two companies started last week when media reports were released that Starbucks is going to launch its very own one-cup brewer.

However, a spokesman from Starbucks informed on Monday that the company has no plans yet to start its own one-cup brewer.

Aside from that, analysts suppose that once Starbucks ends their business deal with Kraft, it is likely that Kraft will also let go of their Maxwell House business since they are already focusing on their candy business along with the British confectioner Cadbury. If that happens, Sara Lee is a potential suitor.

Smits, the person who has lead Sara Lee since May, believe that Starbucks is not yet looking for a new partner to distribute their packaged coffees. But, Sara Lee will look long and hard if there are any potential acquisitions, and that includes Maxwell House.

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