Nestle to buy Israel’s Osem for $ 840m

Nestle SA has agreed to buy out Osem Investments Ltd for about $ 840 million in a deal that takes Israel’s largest publicly- traded foodmaker private. Osem investors will receive a 26 percent premium on their shares, the Swiss firm said. Nestle is buying the 36.3 percent it does not own, and the offer will be presented to the Israeli company’s shareholders at an an extraordinary meeting on March 17. Established in 1942, Osem has been seeking to boost international operations as regulation and gov- ernment efforts to lower food prices have curbed growth at home.