Two Brazilian companies on Wednesday raised their takeover offer for US banana giant Chiquita, in an attempt to woo it away from a merger with Irish fruit producer Fyffes. Cutrale Group, a juice exporter, and investment bank Safra Group said they were offering $14 per share in cash for Chiquita Brands International, valuing the bid at $658 million. "Unlike the proposed combination with Fyffes, the superior Cutrale-Safra offer provides Chiquita shareholders complete certainty with respect to the value of their Chiquita investment," the Brazilian companies said.
Their initial bid of $13 per share, or $611 million, on August 11 had been rejected by Chiquita as "inadequate." Chiquita said in a statement it had received the $14 per share offer and its board of directors "will carefully review and consider the offer in light of the best interests of the Company and its shareholders." Chiquita postponed a shareholder vote on a merger with Fyffes from September to October 24 after inviting the Brazilian firms to make a counter-offer. Chiquita shares were up 3.5 percent at $13.62 in early-afternoon trade in New York. The planned merger with Ireland-based Fyffes, unveiled in March, would relocate Chiquita's tax domicile to Ireland, where corporate taxes are lower than in the United States, a so-called "tax inversion" deal that US authorities say threatens government income.
Comments
Comments are closed.