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n late November, the parent company of IAMC member firm Sara Lee Bakery Group sold its European nuts and snacks business in the Netherlands, Belgium and France to IAMC member company PepsiCo for 130 million euros, or US$153 million.
   "A critical element of our transformation strategy is to divest a number of businesses, including the European nuts and snacks enterprise, that are not in our core categories, so that Sara Lee is a more focused, more disciplined, high-performing company for our shareholders," said Brenda C. Barnes, chairman and CEO of Sara Lee Corp. "We look forward to productive and collaborative discussions with the appropriate works councils as we move forward with this transaction." Sara Lee is also consolidating its European offices into one 75,350-sq.-ft. (7,000-sq.-m.) lease in Barcelona, which will accommodate 450 employees. Kevin Dollhopf, vice president, real estate, for Sara Lee Bakery Group, is an IAMC member.
   In a related announcement, Lockwood Greene became the first organization to secure a consulting, engineering, procurement and construction management services worldwide contract with PepsiCo and its affiliate companies, including Gatorade/Tropicana, IAMC member Frito-Lay North America, Quaker Foods and Pepsi Bottling Group. The firm has performed project work worldwide for PepsiCo. Russell Burton, corporate manager of economic development for PepsiCo Global Real Estate, is an IAMC member, as is Kyle Ballard, economic development manager for Frito-Lay.