General Mills To Sell Its North American Yogurt Business To Lactalis And Sodiaal For $2.1 Bln Cash

(RTTNews) - General Mills, Inc. (GIS) announced Thursday that it has entered into definitive agreements to sell its North American Yogurt business to Lactalis Group and Sodiaal Group, two leading French dairy companies, in cash transactions valued at an aggregate $2.1 billion.

The divestitures encompass the U.S. and Canada operations of several yogurt brands including Yoplait, Liberté, Go-Gurt, Oui, Mountain High, and :ratio, as well as manufacturing facilities in Murfreesboro, Reed City and Saint-Hyacinthe.

Collectively, the North American Yogurt business contributed approximately $1.5 billion to General Mills' fiscal 2024 net sales.

Following the completion of the transactions, the U.S. and Canadian businesses will operate independently, with Lactalis acquiring the U.S. business and Sodiaal acquiring the Canadian business.

The proposed transactions are expected to close in calendar 2025, subject to receipt of requisite regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

General Mills anticipates the combined transactions will be approximately 3 percent dilutive to adjusted earnings per share in the first 12 months after the close, excluding transaction costs and other one-time impacts. The company expects to use the net proceeds from the transactions for share repurchases.