Report: Sara Lee forges ahead with splitting business

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. — One week after announcing that it would sell off its shoe care business to SC Johnson, Sara Lee is moving ahead with plans to split its business into two units.

According to published reports, Sara Lee will divide its meat and coffee businesses into two separate companies. In addition to its recent transaction with SC Johnson, Sara Lee has been streamlining its business by selling off its beauty and laundry detergent portfolios to Unilever for $1.6 billion. The deal closed last month.

"The divestiture of our body care and European detergents businesses further enables us to concentrate our efforts in key areas where we have a strong competitive position and can generate significant shareholder value," stated Marcel Smits, interim CEO of Sara Lee. "We remain focused on aggressively driving growth in our core coffee and protein categories."