Sara Lee Corp., the maker of Ball Park hot dogs and Douwe Egberts coffee, decided to split itself in two after failing to agree to takeover offers from suitors.
Sara Lee said today that it will seek to spin off the meat business as a new public company by early calendar 2012. The board also named Marcel Smits chief executive officer and plans to declare a special dividend of $3 a share.
Sara Lee decided on the split after spurning recent bids from JBS SA and a buyout group led by Apollo Global Management LLC, people familiar with the matter said this week. The separation will make the two new businesses more attractive takeover targets, according to Consumer Edge Research LLC’s Robert Dickerson.
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