July 28 (Bloomberg) -- Unilever, the world's second-biggest consumer-products company, will sell laundry brands including All and Wisk to Vestar Capital Partners for $1.45 billion to focus on faster-growing units.

Vestar will pay $1.08 billion in cash and $375 million in shares in a new venture to be set up, London- and Rotterdam- based Unilever said today in a statement. Vestar will merge the business with its Huish Detergents Inc. to form Sun Products Corp.

Unilever has pledged to dispose of businesses generating 2 billion euros ($3.1 billion) in sales as part of a plan to lift growth. North American detergents generated $1 billion of revenue last year. The company sold some Bertolli brands to olive-oil maker Sos Cuetara SA last week for 630 million euros.

``This is a better-than-expected price,'' said Richard Withagen, an analyst at SNS Securities with an ``accumulate'' rating on Unilever stock. ``The company's disposal program is doing very well. They're getting good prices for their assets in a difficult economic environment.''

Unilever rose 25 cents, or 1.3 percent, to a five-week high of 18.95 euros in Amsterdam trading. The stock has declined 25 percent this year.

Divestments

Under Chief Executive Officer Patrick Cescau, who became its first-ever sole CEO in 2005, the company has made 19 divestments in a bid to accelerate sales growth that has trailed Procter & Gamble Co. since 2003. Unilever has announced job cuts to reduce costs and is moving some research and development to India and China, spokesman Trevor Gorin said today.

Gorin declined to comment on a Sunday Times report that Cescau has told the board he would step down in May of next year.

``If that is true, it can mean Cescau -- who I think wants to finish the job first -- might reach his targets a year earlier,'' said Marco Gulpers, an analyst at ING Wholesale Banking in Amsterdam who advises buying Unilever shares. Unilever has set targets for 2010 that include an operating margin in excess of 15 percent.

Gulpers also said he expects the company, which has budgeted at least 1.5 billion euros for repurchasing shares this year, to buy back extra stock and keep raising its dividend.

`Leading Position'

The maker of Dove soap and Hellmann's mayonnaise will continue to sell detergent outside of North America and will focus on markets where it has a ``leading position,'' according to the statement.

Vestar expects to close the acquisition, which is subject to regulatory review, in ``the next couple of months,'' a Business Wire statement released today shows.

The private-equity firm has $7 billion under management and focuses on companies in the U.S., Europe and Japan, according to the statement. Vestar has completed 65 investments in companies with a total value of more than $20 billion since it was founded in 1988.

Morgan Stanley and Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP are advising Unilever. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. are advising Vestar. They arranged financing together with GE Capital Markets.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jurjen van de Pol in Amsterdam jvandepol@bloomberg.net; Joram Kanner in Amsterdam at jkanner@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 28, 2008 11:59 EDT