Sara Lee to sell bakery units in Spain and Portugal

American consumer goods company Sara Lee has entered into an agreement to sell its fresh bakery businesses in Spain and Portugal to Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo for €115m ($154m) in cash.

The agreement includes all Sara Lee fresh bakery brands as well as seven manufacturing facilities in Spain and Portugal.

Sara Lee executive chairman of the board Jan Bennink said divesting the bakery businesses allows the company’s international portfolio to become simpler and more focused on coffee and tea, the categories around which a leading pure-play international company is being built.

The company said that its remaining international bakery businesses, headquartered in France and Australia, remain the subject of a divestiture process and a strategic review.

The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory clearance, is expected to close within 60 days.

In January 2011, Sara Lee announced that it will divide the company into two pure-play publicly traded companies – one focused on international coffee and tea business and the other focused on North American meat brands.

Grupo Bimbo is a leading branded bakery manufacturer in Spain, with brands such as Bimbo, Martinez, Ortiz and Silueta, with generated net sales of $408m in the fiscal 2011.