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Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Chiquita reaffirms commitment to Fyffes merger, sees synergies, (NYSE: CQB)

Chiquita Brands International on Wednesday re-affirmed its commitment to a merger with Irish tropical fruit company Fyffes Plc and said it expected the deal to yield cost synergies of $60 million. Earlier in August Chiquita rejected a rival takeover offer form Brazilian juice maker Cutrale and the Safra Group, a banking and real estate conglomerate."Chiquita and Fyffes remain committed to the transaction and are continuing to work together to complete the combination as expeditiously as possible," said Ed Lonergan, Chiquita's chief executive officer, in a joint statement issued by the two firms.The two companies said they had identified an additional $20 million of synergies for a total of at least $60 million in annualised pre-tax cost synergies by the end of 2016.

Chiquita Brands International, Inc. (CBII), along with its subsidiaries, is an international marketer and distributor of bananas and other fresh produce, sold under the Chiquita and other brand names in 70 countries, and packaged salads sold under the Fresh Express and other brand names primarily in the United States. Shares of CQB fell by 0.07% or $-0.01/share to $14.07. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $9.24 and as high as $14.30. On average, 526680 shares of CQB exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 361993.



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