General Mills Inc. and Nestle SA are among leading bidders for the 50 percent stake in yogurt maker Yoplait being sold by PAI Partners, four people familiar with the process said.
Nestle and General Mills submitted offers valuing Yoplait at about 1.6 billion euros ($2.2 billion), one of the people said. A final bidder may be selected in the next few weeks, according to the people, who declined to be identified because the process is private. Axa Private Equity is the only remaining buyout firm in the race, three of the people said.
Yoplait shareholders Sodiaal and PAI last month said nine companies, both French and foreign, had made indicative offers for the asset. The joint owners said they would consider the bidders’ plans to expand Yoplait in markets where the brand has little or no presence, such as China, India and Latin America. Sodiaal, which founded Yoplait and owns the other half of it, doesn’t intend to sell its shares.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Bloomberg
