Ireland's McCann family has sold its Dublin-based fruit distribution business, Fyffes, to Sumitomo of Japan for €751 million,
the
Financial Times
reported.
Fyffes, founded as a corner shop in 1902, is Europe's biggest fruit distributor, the
FT
article said. Annual revenues are €1.2 billion. Third-generation member David McCann is executive chairman.
“Two years ago the McCann family was on the brink of merging the business with Chiquita. That deal collapsed when the U.S. company received a rival and better offer from Brazil,” the article said. The Sumitomo deal values the company “at roughly three times what it was worth when it was negotiating with Chiquita,” the
FT
report said.
McCann and his family, whose stake in the company is about 12%, “stand to earn almost €90 million from the sale,” the article said.
David McCann's father, Neil McCann, joined the company in the 1950s; it eventually became Fruit Importers of Ireland. In 1986 FII bought Fyffes, then a British company, the report said.
In 2006, the McCanns split the company into Fyffes, a tropical fruit distributor, and Total Produce, a fresh fruit and vegetable business. David McCann's brother, Carl, is chairman of Total Produce. Neil McCann died in 2011, the
FT
article said. (Source:
Financial Times
, Dec. 9, 2016.)
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