Dessert brand Sara Lee is being sold to a private company owned by a former race car driver and his partner, according to Australian media.

Former Australian race car champion Klark Quinn and his partner Brooke Quinn will buy the brand's Australian and New Zealand businesses for an undisclosed sum.

The company went into voluntary administration in October 2023 after facing financial difficulties.

What happened earlier

The Australia-based brand opened in New South Wales, Australia, in 1971.

A household name in Australia, their desserts can also be found in most supermarkets in Singapore.

But in October 2023, the company entered voluntary administration.

It had been facing financial difficulties which were likely caused by higher operating costs and supply chain disruptions, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

FTI Consulting was subsequently appointed as an administrator to guide its future direction while operations continued.

On Jan. 30, ABC News reported that FTI Consulting had agreed to sell Sara Lee's Australian and New Zealand businesses to the Quinns' private company.

The sale is expected to be completed in the following weeks, and saved more than 200 jobs, the report said.

The sum of the sale was not disclosed.

Aussie made and owned

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the couple succeeded in the "competitive" purchase among 60 domestic and global interested parties.

They said it was their tradition to have Sara Lee apple pie and vanilla ice-cream every Sunday night, and added that they “could not be more proud to put the Aussie made and owned stamp" on the brand.

In 2012, the Quinn family bought confectionery maker Darrell Lea out of voluntary administration.

They subsequently turned it to profitability and in 2018 sold the business to a private equity firm for about A$200 million (S$176.07 million).

Top image from @AustralianGT/X and Sara Lee Desserts/Facebook.