French food group Danone has sold its Irish Biscuits plant in Tallaght, Dublin, plus a similar business in Britain in a deal believed to be worth over €300 million.

The company has sold both businesses to United Biscuits, one of Europe's largest biscuit and snack groups. The deal is subject to regulatory approval here and in the UK.

United could not guarantee yesterday that all 400 jobs at the plant in Tallaght would remain.

A statement said the real benefit of the deal would be to create new levels of growth for Irish Biscuits and the British business known as Jacob's Bakery Ltd.

"However, as we progress with the integration planning, it is likely that we will identify areas of overlap. We will conduct a full review of all areas to ensure we utilise the best practices from both companies.

"We will work to minimise the impact of this deal on all employees but there will inevitable be some overlap of roles which may involve redundancies," the statement said.

"We will seek to redeploy people where appropriate, and will treat people fairly and honestly through the whole process," it added.

Mr Malcolm Ritchie, United's chief executive, said strong demand for the range of products from Irish Biscuits continued. Among the brands which come from the Tallaght plant are Kimberly, Mikado and Fig Rolls.

The French group had tried to sell some of its British biscuit businesses in 2000 as the UK biscuit industry attempted to consolidate following price competition which pushed most of the rest of the industry into private hands.

United Biscuits, with its McVitie's, Penguin and Hula Hoops brands, intends to take on British brands such as Jacob's Cream Crackers, Thai Bites and Twiglets. - (Additional reporting, Reuters)