Banana giant Chiquita has rejected a $611 million (£472 million) takeover by a Brazilian consortium, leaving the path open for its tie-up with Ireland’s Fyffes.
Juice-maker Cutrale and banking conglomerate Safra made their bid on Monday, two months after Fyffes had agreed to merge with Chiquita in a deal that would create the world’s largest banana supplier.
Chiquita described the Cutrale-Safra bid as “inadequate” and said it would not hold negotiations with the groups “at this time”.
It has refused to provide financial information to either Cutrale or Safra.
However, analysts said the financial musclepower wielded by the Safra Group, controlled by Brazilian-Lebanese financier Joseph Safra, could mean the consortium raises its offer, which it said was “clearly more favourable to Chiquita shareholders than the proposed merger with Fyffes”.
The global banana market is dominated by Chiquita, Dole Food Company, Del Monte and Fyffes.
If a merger does go ahead, US-based Chiquita would move its HQ to Dublin for tax reasons.