SSL sold for £2.3bn

CLEANSING products conglomerate Reckitt Benckiser has agreed a £2.5 billion deal to snap up the consumer goods group behind Durex and Scholl footcare.

Reckitt will pay 1163p a share for SSL International, which was once part of the Oldham-based Seton-Scholl Group and still has a manufacturing base in Middleton.

Anglo–Dutch group Reckitt said the takeover would provide a significant boost to its health and personal-care arm.

But it also warned that integration of the two companies would lead to job cuts in commercial and administration functions, although none of these will be Oldham as the Seton Products business was hived off from SSL international several years ago when an equity group took the business into independent ownership.

SSL, which employs around 10,000 people worldwide, owns pain-relief brands such as Cuprofen and Paramol.