P.M. BRIEFING : Nabisco Sells European Companies
From Times wire services
ATLANTA —
RJR Nabisco Inc. said today that it sold five of its European food businesses to the French food and beverage company BSN for $2.5 billion.
The sale will help reduce RJR Nabisco’s massive debt after the record $24.53-billion buyout by the investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. earlier this year.
Sold to BSN were the United Kingdom biscuit business of Nabisco Brands; U.K. snack makers Walker’s Crisps and Smith’s Crisps; the Belin Group, a French biscuit and pastry business, and Saiwa, a biscuit and snack producer in Italy.
BSN, a leading food and beverage company in France, markets a variety of biscuit, dairy and grocery products as well as beer, champagne and mineral water.