SHV, Nutreco announce official cash takeover bid

Dutch investor SHV and fish feed producer Nutreco issued a joint statement today announcing the opening of the offer period on SHV’s cash offer for Nutreco, and repeating the feed producer’s interested in accepting it.

SHV made the offer last month to up its bid to EUR 44.50 (USD 54.71) per share, or approximately EUR 3 billion (USD 3.7 billion). The offer beat feed producer Cargill’s competing bid for Nutreco.

"Besides offering an attractive premium of 58 percent to Nutreco's shareholders, we truly believe our offer is in the best interest of all Nutreco's stakeholders,” said Stephan Nanninga, chairman of SHV’s executive board. “SHV will fully support Nutreco's growth strategy as a group and drive investment, innovation and sustainability for the benefit of its customers and employees in the Netherlands and internationally alike.”

The offer period extends from 10 December to 17 February. Nutreco has scheduled an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders for 9 February 2015 to discuss the offer.

“The complete package of the SHV offer is compelling to the shareholders, employees and other stakeholders of Nutreco,” said Knut Nesse, Nutreco’s CEO. “Nutreco's executive board and supervisory board both fully support and unanimously recommend it for acceptance by our shareholders."