General Mills to Buy 51% of Yoplait |
| Wall Street Journal - May 18, 2011 |
General Mills Inc. signed a deal with French private-equity fund PAI Partners and French dairy cooperative Sodiaal to acquire a 51% stake in dairy products maker Yoplait for €810 million ($1.15 billion), after the parties reported they were in exclusive talks in March.
The deal, expected to close this summer, also includes a 50% interest in a related entity that holds the world-wide Yoplait brands. Sodiaal will keep the remaining stakes in both entities.
General Mills already has a working relationship with Yoplait, having manufactured and distributed Yoplait products in the U.S. for the last 30 years. Yoplait's global retail sales were about $65 billion last year.
As part of the deal, General Mills will partner with Sodiaal to expand the Yoplait brand and businesses in France, Europe and around the world.
Also under the deal, General Mills and Yoplait will withdraw their arbitration regarding General Mill's U.S. licensing of the Yoplait name. In September, General Mills said it was seeking arbitration over a dispute with Sodiaal, which it said wanted to terminate a 30-year distribution agreement because General Mills' royalty payments were too low.
Read Full Article from Wall Street Journal
- Posted: 2011-05-18 10:36:40
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