Cuisine de France parent Aryzta has announced it has completed the sale of its North American business.
The deal, which is believed to be worth $850 million (€706 million), has been completed early, with initial estimates putting the completion date before the end of July, reports the Irish Times.
In March, the Swiss-Irish bakery group confirmed that it was offloading its North American business to an affiliate of Lindsay Goldberg LLC.
'Good Progress'
Earlier this year, Aryzta said that it is making 'good progress' on simplifying its operations, despite reporting a 21.0% decline in group revenue from continuing operations in the first half of its financial year.
In what it described as an 'improved' performance, Aryzta said that its retail and quick service restaurant business 'recovered strongly' in North America, while recovery also continued in its Rest of World arm, however these improvements were offset by continued restrictions in Europe.
It said that it expects to reduce central overhead costs by 25% this year, which will contribute to a 'substantial lower overall cost base in the future'.
Group revenue for the period (from continuing operations) stood at €752.5 million, compared to €952.2 million for the corresponding period last year, while the business also reported a 36.1% decline in underlying EBITDA, to €76.1 million (down from €119.1 million).
If discontinued operations are included, group revenue was down 22.4%.
Picard Sale
In January, the company announced that it had reached an agreement with Lion Capital and Invest Group Zouari (IGZ) to sell its remaining 4.64% interest in French frozen food group Picard for almost €24 million.
The Cuisine de France owner said that the transaction is expected to close early in the first quarter of 2021.
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