180 million boxes
Both companies will join to sell 180 million boxes of bananas per year. According to the European Commission, the size of this new company will not perturb the market as there are still plenty of alternatives. It has however asked Fyffes to cancel an agreement it has with container carrier Maersk.
Chiquita will own 50.7 % of the new company’s shares, called ChiquitaFyffes. Fyffes will control the remainder of shares. Both companies hope the merger will be finalized by the end of the year.
The merger will help save 40 million euro per year on a yearly 3.3 billion euro turnover. ChiquitaFyffes will employ 32,000 people in more than 70 countries.
