Packaged foods company Sara Lee Corp. (SLE), said Tuesday its meat business being spun-off on June 28 this year will be known as Hillshire Brands Co.
Illinois-based Sara Lee last year revealed plans to separate into two publicly traded companies. One entity is Hillshire Brands Co. that will encompass the North American meat business and will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "HSH". The other entity will be its international coffee and tea business named D.E Master Blenders 1753.
Hillshire Brands, which does business of about $4 billion, will focus on meat-centric food products and food-service operations. It will include brands such as Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Ball Park, among others.
Sara Lee, which acquired the Hillshire Farm brand in 1971, said that after the spin-off, Hillshire Brands' Foodservice division will still be known as Sara Lee Foodservice. Sean Connolly, chief executive officer of Sara Lee North American Retail and Foodservice, will become CEO of Hillshire Brands.
Sara Lee has been pruning its business over the years and has sold various businesses. These include its North American bakery business to Grupo Bimbo of Mexico for $959 million and its body care and European detergents business to Unilever for $1.8 billion.
Sara Lee in May reported a loss for the third quarter compared to a profit last year, hurt mostly by charges and lower operating margins, even as sales grew.
SLE is trading at $20.47, up $0.03 or 0.15%, on a volume of 3.0 million shares on the NYSE. In the past year, the stock has traded in a range $15.66 - $22.3.
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