Sara Lee Undergoes Major Restructuring

Sara Lee Corp., under a $1.6 billion three-year restructuring plan, wants to get out of manufacturing and focus on building its brands worldwide.

The Chicago-based maker of Ball Park franks, Hanes underwear and Coach leather goods said Monday it is adopting a model similar to that of Nike, which doesn’t own any of the manufacturing facilities that produce its shoes and clothing. Instead, it acts as more of a wholesaler.

“This is an idea whose time has come,” Sara Lee chairman and chief executive John H. Bryan said in a telephone interview.

“We have an opportunity to reshape Sara Lee that will reinvent how we’re going to do business in the next century,” he said. “It is terribly important that we minimize our assets and maximize our profits. We think we can have our cake and eat it too, and who better to do it than Sara Lee?”

Wall Street apparently approved of the idea. Sara Lee’s stock rose more than 14 percent, or $6.06 a share, to $48.62 a share, on the New York Stock Exchange. It earlier reached a 52-week high.