Sara Lee cut into two portions

Sara Lee, the US food giant behind Douwe Egberts coffee, has agreed to split the company into two separate divisions in early 2012.

One company, which will retain the Sara Lee name, will own the retail and food service business in North America, while the other company, which has yet to be named, will consist of the beverage section and the international bakery business. Two groups of bidders recently emerged for the company – a private equity consortium led by Apollo and one led by the Brazilian meat processor JBS. Both groups failed to win over Sara Lee.