Sara Lee Corp (SLE.N) plans to split its meat and coffee businesses rather than sell the company as a whole, a source familiar with the situation said on Thursday. Sara Lee had been leaning toward a split after a private equity group led by Apollo [APOLO.UL], dropped out, a second source said. JBS SA (JBSS3.SA), the world's biggest meat company, meanwhile, had been struggling with financing to make a higher offer, the second source said. Sara Lee decided to split the company when the bidding failed to meet expectations, the second source said. It was unclear whether the two bidding groups would re-emerge with higher offers. (Reporting by Jessica Hall and Megan Davies; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)
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