Swedish Meats has signalled its intention to resist a hostile takeover bid made by Finnish rival Atria, stating that it will stick with an earlier agreement reached with HK Ruokatalo.
Atria has made cash-plus-shares bid for Swedish Meats’ processed meat operations worth about SEK1.3bln (US$188.56m) in a move that aims to double its turnover in Sweden, making it the clear market leader.
Atria’s bid is for Swedish Meats’ processed meats business and 20% of the company’s slaughtering and cutting operations.
The offer is designed to trump a SEK1.05bn bid made earlier this month for the whole group by Finnish meat group HK Ruokatalo. Under the proposal, Swedish Meats would get a cash payment of SEK851m and a 10.8% stake in Atria — translating to 5.6% of voting rights.
However, the Swedish food group has signalled its intention to stand by the original deal with HK Ruokatalo.
“Atria has sent out a pressure message intending to acquire parts of Swedish Meats. Swedish Meats finds no reason to comment on this initiative further,” the company said in a statement. “Swedish Meats entered an agreement with HK Ruokatalo on 10 November concerning future partnerships… Swedish Meats intends not to break this agreement.”
