Dive Brief:
- Chiquita and Fyffes have revised the terms of their proposed merger as the companies seek to ward off a competing bid for Chiquita by Brazil's Cutrale Group and Safra Group.
- Under the new terms, Chiquita shareholders would wind up owning 59.6% of the newly combined company, which would be the world's largest banana grower/shipper.
- Chiquita also agreed to pay a higher termination fee to Fyffes if the deal doesn't go through by Oct. 24.
Dive Insight:
The world's mergers and acquisitions bankers, as well as the folks in the banana industry, have all been waiting to see what Chiquita and Fyffes would do now after shareholder advocates badmouthed the proposed merger and U.S. regulators changed the law to make tax inversions less appealing.
Now the ball is back in the Brazilians' court. And we'll all be waiting to see how they react.