Tate & Lyle is selling its sugar business, including UK refineries and its London Golden Syrup factory, to American Sugar Refining in a £211m deal.
The company is famous for its sugar in the UK but also makes industrial food ingredients for processed food and says it will now focus on this side of its business.
“Sugar refining has enjoyed a long and proud history within Tate & Lyle, but we believe the interests of this business and its employees are now best served by being part of a company for whom sugar refining is core,” said Tate & Lyle chief executive Javed Ahmed. “I sincerely thank our employees for their hard work and commitment over the years, and wish them every success in the future.
“Tate & Lyle’s clear priority is to grow its Speciality Food Ingredients business, supported by cash generated from Bulk Ingredients. This disposal will enable us to concentrate our resources on delivering our strategic objectives as we focus, fix and grow our business.”
American Sugar Refining will be licensed to use the Tate & Lyle branding on products worldwide.
Tate & Lyle employs a total of 5,600 people worldwide and in the year ended March 2010 had sales of £3.5bn. The proceeds from this deal will go towards reducing the company’s £814m debt.
