Fyffes picked up by rival in €380m banana deal

FYFFES has signed a deal with a US rival to merge and create the world’s largest banana firm.

Shares i n the Dublin fruit importer soared more than 45 per cent on the stock exchange to €1.30 after the deal with Chiquita was announced.

Fyffes boss David McCann said: ‘Our outstanding employees will benefit from working for a larger, more diverse business which offers opportunities for growth.

‘We believe we will be able to use our joint expertise, complementary assets and geographic coverage to develop a business that can run smoothly and efficiently to better partner with our customers and suppliers.’

The new business, worth €380million, will be called ChiquitaFyffes. Its combined sales account for more than 160million boxes of bananas – approximately 17.6billion individual fruits – as well as melons and pineapples.

Fyffes, based in the fruit markets near Smithfield, Dublin, employs more than 4,000 in Ireland and the UK and a further 8,000 worldwide. But Chiquita is the larger of the two firms with annual revenues of €2.16billion and 20,000 staff.

Fyffes will own 49.3 per cent of the merged company, and Chiquita, which is based in North Carolina, will own 50.7 per cent.

The existing brands will remain, and the new firm will be the largest player in the European banana market and second l argest in the US.

Fyffes began trading in the 1880s when the first commercial delivery of bananas from the Canary Islands arrived in London for EW Fyffe, Son & Co.

The deal was announced yesterday as Fyffes unveiled annual profits last year were up 7 per cent on last year to €32.7million.

Chiquita will make tax savings by moving the joint company’s global HQ to Dublin from the US but it will still be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The merger will create a fresh produce company which will earn about €3.32billion annually in revenue. The firm will have a 14 per cent share of the global banana market.

Chiquita shareholders will get one share of the new company for each share held. Fyffes investors will get 0.1567 of a share in the new group for each existing share, which means a 38 per cent windfall for shareholders.