Chiquita rejected an offer worth $1.3 billion from Brazillian billionaires and businessmen Joseph Safra and Jose Luis Cutrale and rather chose to go through with the deal with Fyffes.
Cutrale, who runs fresh fruit juice producer Grupo Cutrale, and Safra who operates investment firm Safra Group both made a collective bid for Chiquita for $1.3 billion dollars.
However, Chiquita deemed the offer as "not in the best interests of Chiquita shareholders" and rejected the offer from Cutrale and Safra.
"The Cutrale / Safra offer, in our judgment, is not a compelling alternative to Chiquita Fyffes as it limits the ability of Chiquita shareholders to realise the long-term value inherent in a combination of Chiquita and Fyffes," according to Kerrii Anderson, chairwoman of the board of directors of Chiquita said in a statement in International Business Times.
Chiquita Brands International sealed the deal on a merger with Irish fruit and fresh produce company Fyffes, Inc. The merger will create the world's largest banana firm.
Chiquita and Fyffes, fresh produce companies most famous for their bananas, announced last September that under the new all-stock deal, Chiquita Brands International Inc Shareholders will amass 60 percent of both companies combined a compared to its previous stake of 51 percent.
Fyffes shareholders, on the other hand, will get 40 percent of the company, down from 49 percent stake.
Chiquita and Fyffes revealed their merger plans last March. The new company will be located in Fyffes' headquarters in Dublin.
The transfer of the company to Dublin is called an "inversion," where Chiquita aims to re-incorporate the brand to reduce tax burden on income earned in Charlotte, North Carolina, where its headquarters is located.
Corporate inversion has become an emerging topic for debate. Critics who include lawmakers argue that corporate inversions may not benefit others as it makes their tax burdens heavier.
Seamus Keenan, Fyffes spokesman, however, emphasized in an email that the merger was not driven by "tax-based transaction."
