Nordzucker, Danisco negotiate new sugar deal price
The German federal cartel office, the Bundeskartellamt, gave its conditional go-ahead for the deal, which originally carried a DKK5.6bn (around €751m) price tag, this week, dependant on the sale of Danisco’s plant at Anklem in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania.
After Cosun stepped into buy Anklem, Nordzucker wanted to agree a new price for the rest of the business.
A spokesperson for Nordzucker told FoodNavigator.com: “We feel that examining all the component parts of the package in the final stages is not only perfectly normal but part of our commercial obligations. This is all the more true when parts of the package saw changes in the meantime.”
The price agreement means the transaction can now close in advance of the end February deadline laid out in the original contract.
Additional payment
Danisco said that it received payment of an outstanding DKK600m in July 2008, due to the sale of EU sugar quotas in 2007/8. This figure will be at DKK 375m after repayments.
Danisco is also using about DKK510m, up from the previously agreed DKK360m, for a loan to Nordzucker. This loan carries an interest rate of 4 per cent and falls due on 15 March 2011.
It will also participate in the financing with the expected transfer of an agreed amount of sugar in the course of 2009, with a value of DKK600m. This will result in interest compensation.
The financing of the deal is expected to cost some DKK1.1 billion. As a result of this, Danisco is cancelling the share buy-back programme it mentioned in its interim report on December 16.
