(Bloomberg) — General Mills Inc. is in advanced talks to sell its North American yogurt business for more than $2 billion, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
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The New York-listed firm has been in discussions to sell the US and Canadian operations, which include the popular Yoplait brand, to French dairy companies Groupe Lactalis and Sodiaal, respectively, the people said.
Deliberations are ongoing and no final decision has been made, the people said. Representatives for General Mills, Lactalis and Sodiaal didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Heightened competition with the likes of Danone SA and Chobani Inc. in the US, along with limited penetration of the market, led to discussions of an exit from the country’s yogurt market, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Jennifer Bartashus and Jibril Lawal wrote in a note in May. General Mills is also angling its portfolio to growth segments such as premium pet food and organic snacks, they said.
General Mills sold the European Yoplait operations to Sodiaal in 2021 in exchange for the Canadian business and lower royalty rates for the Yoplait and Liberte brands in the US and Canada. The company’s US retail yogurt business alone generated $1.4 billion in sales in the 12 months to May 19, Bartashus and Lawal wrote in their note. Yoplait accounted for 87% of that, they said.
General Mills’s shares have advanced about 12% this year, giving the food manufacturer a market value of $40.7 billion.
–With assistance from Alan Katz, Ben Scent and Fion Li.
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