General Mills says that it’s selling its Croissant King and van den Bergh’s frozen bakery business in Australia to Kerry Group, a global food and ingredients company headquartered in Ireland. The sale includes frozen dough and pastry products sold to professional bakers under those brands.


General Mills’ plan to sell its Croissant King and van den Bergh’s frozen bakery business in Australia to Ireland’s Kerry Group, including two plants in Mansfield, Queensland, Australia and Camellia, New South Wales. About 110 employees dedicated to the frozen bakery business will transfer to Kerry with this sale, effective today.

“General Mills’ focus is on growing our key brands in retail,” notes Markus Muehleisen, managing director of General Mills Australia. These brands includeOld El Paso Mexican food,Latinapastas and sauces,Betty Crockerbaked goods andNature Valley muesli bars, which were introduced in Australia last April.

“While our bakery team has built a solid business of frozen pastries and dough products serving bakers for almost 20 years, Kerry’s scale and experience also positions it well to grow and advance the business in this category,” Muehleisen adds. “General Mills will continue to focus on our retail channels.”

General Mills acquired van den Bergh’s in 1999 and Croissant King in 2005.