Its a marriage made in the kitchen: Tupperware Corp. says it plans to buy Sara Lee Corp.'s direct selling business for $557 million in cash. The deal means the container maker is not only moving deeper into the beauty and personal care business, but is expanding its marketing base as well.
The Sara Lee unit has over 900,000 independent sales consultants who sell beauty and personal care products directly to consumers, many of them in Latin America. Presumably these Sara Lee consultants will also handle Tupperware products, which are also sold directly to consumers.
In the most recent fiscal year, the Sara Lee unit recorded $470 million in revenue, much of it from Latin America and Asia.
"We see substantial growth opportunities for the direct selling channel in Latin America and Asia Pacific, and strongly feel that beauty and personal care products will be the major driver of that growth," said Tupperware CEO Rick Goings.
Goings said the acquisition complements Tupperwares current personal care product sales, which mostly take place in North American markets. Adding the unit will increase the companys beauty and personal care products to about 35 percent of Tupperware's total sales from 12 percent.
