Europe authorizes purchase of Chiquita Brands by Brazilians

The European Commission approved on Wednesday the purchase of the American banana company Chiquita Brands by Brazilian magnate Jose Luis Cutrale and Joseph Safra.
According to a statement, the EU Executive concluded that "the proposed purchase does not raise competition concerns, given the minimal overlap between the activities of Chiquita and Cutrale, while the Harvest has no activities in the same sector that Chiquita or Cutrale".
The Brazilian tycoons José Luis Cutrale and Joseph Safra announced at the end of October the purchase of Chiquita Brands for 1.3 billion dollars, in an operation that includes the debt of the American company.
With this offer, Chiquita declined to ally himself to the importer and distributor of exotic fruit Irish Fyffes.
The American company, which will become a subsidiary of Cutrale-harvest, will have a new home in New Jersey (Northwest United States). The Brazilian groups did not provide more details about the new Association, as, for example, the Division of capital.
Chiquita employs 20,000 people and operates in 70 countries. She is based in Charlotte (North Carolina).
The Cutrale Group is a producer of fruit (peaches, apples and lemons, among others), but is mostly known for its orange juice (one third of the world market). The company has a market value of 5 billion dollars.
The Safra group investment fund manages assets worth 200 billion dollars in the world.
Its founder, billionaire Joseph Safra, Safra National Bank owns Bank of New York, Banco Safra in Brazil and Bank Jacob Safra Switzerland and has heavy investments in real estate. Moreover, it has stretches of farmland.
The European Union (EU) is the world's largest consumer of bananas. In total, 68.3% of the market is dominated by the "dollar bananas", i.e. produced in Latin American countries, followed by the production of ACP countries (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific) countries, which have 19.1 percent of the market, and for bananas produced within the Community (12.6 percent), according to the Commission.