Chiquita Brands International, another tax deserter

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Offer to Chiquita counters plan on tax inversion

 

By DAVID GELLES

The New York Times

August 12, 2014

 

Chiquita Brands International, the banana producer that is seeking an inversion with a $526 million deal for its Irish rival Fyffes, received an unsolicited offer Monday from an unlikely pair of private companies.

 

The Cutrale Group, a wholesale orange juice supplier, and the Safra Group, a private bank, have offered to acquire all of Chiquita shares for $13 apiece, or about $611 million, representing a 29 percent premium to Chiquita’s closing share price Friday,

 

The unexpected offer sets up a stark choice for investors: proceed with Chiquita’s inversion-driven growth plan or cash out now.

 

If Cutrale and Safra succeed in acquiring Chiquita, the Fyffes deal would not happen, scuttling one of the year’s inversion deals, in which a U.S. company reincorporates abroad through a deal, lowering its tax rate and freeing up overseas cash.

 

That deal, announced in March, would allow Chiquita to gain global sway over the market for the world’s most popular fruit.


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