Brazilian coffee company Café Damasco has been bought by the Sara Lee Corporation for almost $60 million in Sara Lee’s attempt to gain more profitable coffee and meat businesses.
Sara Lee had already announced the selling of its troubled North American bread business to the Mexican giant Grupo Bimbo for $959 million earlier this month. That deal is expected to be finalized within the first half of 2011.
When the Downers Grove, Illinois–based company announced the sale to Bimbo, it said the transaction allowed them to focus on their other businesses while also saying that it would allow them to expand through unnamed acquisitions.
The purchase of Café Damasco, which is expected to close on Tuesday, allows Sara Lee a stronger presence in Brazil where they already own the Pilao and Caboclo coffee brands. Its other coffee brands out of Brazil include Cafe do Ponto, Moka, and Seleto. The company also own the coffee brands Senseo and Hills Bros.
In an attempt to slenderize the business, Sara Lee has made a series of deals including selling its air freshener business, Ambi Pur, to Procter & Gamble Co., selling its stake in an insecticide venture in India, as well as its remaining insecticide business to SC Johnson, and Sara Lee also sold its body care business to Unilever N.V..
