PZ Cussons to bid for Sara Lee

LONDON (Reuters) - PZ Cussons (PZC.L) has made it onto the shortlist of bidders for the European household and personal care business of U.S. consumer goods group Sara Lee (SLE.N), the Sunday Times reported without citing sources.

The newspaper said PZ Cussons, the maker of Imperial Leather soaps, joins larger rivals Reckitt Benckiser (RB.L), Unilever (UNc.AS) (ULVR.L), Colgate-Palmolive (CL.N) on the shortlist.

Sara Lee has put a price tag of between $3 billion (2 billion pounds) and $3.5 billion on the business, which includes brands such as Kiwi shoe polish, Brylcream hair styling products and Sanex deodorant, the paper said.

Stockport-based PZ Cussons, was not immediately available for comment. A spokesman for Sara Lee in Europe said it was not company policy to comment on media speculation.

(Reporting by Victoria Bryan)