McCormick & Company has revised its offer for Premier Foods to 65 pence in cash per each share of Premier Foods, valuing the latter at £1.5bn, and making its third approach to acquire the business.
The revised offer follows two previous offers made by Mccormick which were rejected by Premier Foods.
McCormick offered 52 and 60 pence per share during two previous bids and Premier Foods instead opted to agree to an international cooperation deal with Japanese noodle maker Nissin.
With the latest offer of 65 pence per share brings Premier's equity valuation to £537m ($774m).
According to McCormick, the offer represents an enterprise value of £1.51bn, including debt and future pension liabilities.
McCormick confirmed that the revised offer was based on "prompt and full engagement" by Premier's board and subject to limited confirmatory due diligence which includes a review of pensions documentation, current trading and material contracts.
Last week, Premier Foods rejected bid saying that the offer from McCormick significantly undervalued Premier Foods and its prospects.
Following the rejection of the first offer made by McCormick which offered an indicative price of 52 pence per Premier share, Premier Foods received a revised possible offer for the entire issued, and to be issued, ordinary share capital of the company at 60 pence in cash for every share of Premier Foods.
The company also rejected the second offer citing undervaluation of Premier Foods and its future prospects.
At the time, Premier Foods chairman David Beever had said: "McCormick's Proposal represents an attempt to capture the upside value embedded in Premier's business that rightfully belongs to Premier's shareholders.
"The Proposal fails to recognise the value of Premier's performance to date and prospects for the future, including the strategic plans we have to accelerate growth.
"McCormick's Proposal significantly undervalues the business and the Board has unanimously decided to reject it."
Image: McCormick revises bid for Premier Foods again. Photo: Courtesy of John Kasawa/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
