MINNEAPOLIS — General Mills on Wednesday announced it
has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a 51 percent controlling
interest in French yogurt maker Yoplait S.A.S for about $1.15 billion.
In March, Golden Valley, Minn.-based General Mills
confirmed it intended to buy the Yoplait stake of PAI Partners, a French
private equity firm. The formalized deal also calls for General Mills
to acquire a 50 percent interest in a related Yoplait entity that holds
the worldwide Yoplait brands.
Sodiaal, a major French dairy cooperative and current
half-owner of Yoplait, will remain a co-owner with General Mills.
Yoplait is the second largest brand in the global yogurt market. General
Mills has had the license to sell Yoplait in the United States since
the 1970s, and is today Yoplait’s single largest licensee. Yoplait is
the leading U.S. yogurt brand.
General Mills will continue to sell Yoplait in the
U.S. under its marketing agreement, but will now be able to participate
in Yoplait’s worldwide growth.
With the closing of the deal, both General Mills and
Sodiaal’s licensing arm agreed to formally withdraw from arbitration
over the U.S. Yoplait license. Sodiaal’s marketing arm, Sodima, last
fall tried to terminate its contract with General Mills after failing to
renegotiate its royalty rate.
General Mills declared that the Yoplait contract
doesn’t allow Sodima to terminate or renegotiate, and took the matter to
an international commerce group that specializes in arbitration.
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