General Mills sells North American yogurt business to Lactalis and Sodiaal for US$2.1B

On January 27, 2025, General Mills, Inc. (“General Mills”) completed the sale of its North American yogurt business in cash transactions valued at an aggregate US$2.1 billion. Following completion of the transactions, the US and Canadian businesses will operate independently, with Lactalis acquiring the US business and Sodiaal acquiring the Canadian business. McCarthy Tétrault acted as Canadian counsel for the sale of the businesses.

General Mills, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is one of the world’s leading food companies, operating in more than 100 countries. Its consumer brands include Cheerios, Fiber One, Häagen-Dazs, Nature Valley, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Green Giant and Old El Paso.

McCarthy Tétrault LLP advised General Mills with a team led by Éric Gosselin and Rami Chalabi that included Michael Shahinian, Jessica Cytryn, and Sheema Rezaei (Business) that included Patrick Pengelly, Caroline-Ariane Bernier, Dominique Gregoire (Labour and Employment), Susan Nickerson, Julia Miller (Pensions and Benefits), Dominic Thérien, Michael Caldecott (Competition), Raj Juneja, Suhaylah Sequeira (Tax), Annie Gagnon-Larocque, Matthew Pekofsky, Nicholas Alevras (Real Property and Planning), Véronique Wattiez Larose, Conrad Lee, Jonathan Adessky, Francis Langlois (Intellectual Property), Eugen Miscoi (Privacy), Julie Belley Perron (Environment), Martha Harrison, Evie Bouras (Food Regulatory), Oksana Migitko (Trade).