Merrydown bows to £36m bid

SUSSEX cidermaker Merrydown is giving up almost 60 years of independence, today accepting terms of a £36.7m takeover bid from the privately owned Northern Ireland-based SHS group, which owns the Caledonian Clear mineral water brand.

SHS, which is far larger than Merrydown, is offering 170p-a-share cash, a substantial premium on the 102½p Merrydown price before the bid approach was revealed last November.

Founded in 1975 and owned by the Sloan and Salters families, SHS is one of the fastest-growing privately owned companies in the UK. Sales in 2003 totalled £255m and profits were £19.2m.

It owns the alcoholic drink WKD and markets Douwe Egberts coffee, Cobra beer and Tropicana fruit juice.

Andy Nash, chairman of Merrydown, which also makes Shloer 'grown-up' soft drinks, said that while the board remained confident about future prospects, 'they recognise that a larger organisation such as SHS has the resources to grow the brands faster than Merrydown can as an independent company'.

SHS chairman Joe Sloan said: 'We are delighted to be adding Shloer and Merrydown cider to our portfolio and look forward to continuing the growth that has been achieved in recent years.'

The Northern Irish firm already has an 11% stake in Merrydown, whose chief executive is Nigel Freer, and has secured acceptances to its offer from holders of a further 23.9% of the shares.