Dive Brief:
- Chiquita estimates moving costs for relocating its former Charlotte, NC, headquarters to be between $25 and $40 million.
- Chiquita's new owners, Cutrale and Safra Groups of Brazil, have not announced the new headquarters' destination, only saying that it will be in "other locations closer to customers and operations."
- Several of Chiquita's top brass and board members have left, and so far four new people have been named to the new board of directors.
Dive Insight:
The headquarters move is the latest development in what's been a long saga for Chiquita since mid-2014. First the company turned down a takeover bid from Cutrale-Safra, moving instead toward a merger with Irish produce company Fyffes. However, after being advised against the deal, Chiquita rejected Fyffes' offer, and Cutrale-Safra ended up winning the battle, acquiring Chiquita for $1.3 billion. Moving the headquarters out of Charlotte is likely to be just the first of many sweeping changes for Chiquita in 2015.