Unilever to Off-load Boursin
The sale of the factory was announced at a European works council meeting, during which the management also announced its plans to cut 20,000 of the group's 180,000-strong worldwide workforce.
06/09/07 Unilever is planning to sell French cheese-maker Boursin as part of its €2bn global restructuring. The French cream cheese unit employs approximately 150 people in the French town of Pacy. The cheese producer has a turnover of about €95m, with over half its sales in France. The company is planning to slash up to 12,000 jobs in Europe as part of a larger restructuring plan.
The planned sale is aimed at raising cash to finance the group's other activities, a delegate from the Force Ouvriere (FO) union said yesterday.
Boursin only has one factory, located at Pacy-sur-Eure in France.
'The factory is profitable, it brings in a lot of money, but it is the only cheese producer in the group, which wants to refocus on its core activities', said FO delegate Frederic Legrand. He said there is uncertainty over the identity of a potential buyer. 'Anything is possible, it could be a dairy group or a pension fund', Legrand said.
The sale of the factory was announced at a European works council meeting, during which the management also announced its plans to cut 20,000 of the group's 180,000-strong worldwide workforce.
'Today, fresh cheese production is no longer at the heart of Unilever's strategy', said Unilever France spokeswoman Sophie Jayet.
The cheese producer was founded in 1957 by Francois Boursin, who sold the company to Unilever in 1990.
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