Kraft, which also owns the likes of McVities and Jaffa Cakes, is said to have signed the deal for United Biscuits' southern European business over the weekend, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
United owns seven of the top-ten selling biscuit brands in Spain including Hobnobs, and has a 39% share of the Portugese biscuit market through its Triunfo cookies brand.
Full details of the Kraft deal, which follows the departure of its chief executive Roger Deromedi last month, are expected today.
The US company previously bought a 20% share in United Biscuits in April 2000, with the remainder bought out by the Cinven, PAI and MidOcean groups. It is believed this stake will be returned to United as part of the deal.
As part of a strategic review conducted by Goldman Sachs earlier in February, the four owners are to start a new process to sell the northern European division once the deal to acquire the southern Europe business is completed.
Last month, Kraft had partnered with the UK's Premier Foods and a Dutch private equity investor to break up United, which is valued around 拢2bn. The deal did not progress, as the parties could not agree on terms.
The deal is likely to sparks fears over more UK businesses being sold off to foreign companies.
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