Peperami, the British meat snack, could be gobbled up by Irish food giant Kerry Group in a deal that could raise "tens of millions of pounds".
Kerry Group, owner of Wall's sausages, is among a small group of bidders in talks with Unilever, owner of Peperami, which was created in 1982 due to a shipping error after a container arrived in Britain containing sausages instead of pâté.
The sale of Peperami, known for the crazed talking sausage in its TV ads, would raise just tens of millions of pounds for the Anglo-Dutch giant Unilever, according to Sky News.
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The decision to sell off Peperami comes as part of Unilever's pruning of its food range, as the giant is also looking for a buyer for its US-based salad and dressings firm, Wishbone.
Unilever does not produce individual breakdowns of its products' sales, however its first-quarter results saw underlying sales growth of 4.9% with emerging markets increasing 10.4%.