Japanese firm offers to buy Fyffes for €751m

Irish-based banana and fruit distribution company, Fyffes, has received a takeover offer from a Japanese trading company, Sumitomo Corporation.

Sumitomo has made a cash offer of just over €751m for Fyffes.

The offer price of €2.23 per share is at a premium to Fyffes closing share price of €1.50 last night and a premium of nearly 40% to the company’s highest ever share price of €1.62 last April.

Needless to say, the offer has been recommended by the board of Fyffes.

Fyffes, long associated with the McCann family of Dundalk and chaired by David McCann, is a leading international grower, importer and distributor of fruit, particularly bananas, and more recently mushrooms. It has annual sales in excess of €1.2bn and operations on four continents.

Balkan Investments, the McCann family vehicle, own just under 12% of Fyffes - which the deal values at some €90m in cash.

Sumitomo, is a publicly-traded conglomerate comprising more than 800 separate trading companies and employing 65,000 people. It has $8bn in cash on its balance sheet and is the leading trader of bananas in Asia and the owner of extensive banana plantations in the Phillipines.