InVivo expects to sign Soufflet takeover deal within two weeks (updated)

InVivo Therapeutics Holdings

28/04/2021 15:39

(Adds detail)
    PARIS, April 28 (Reuters) - French cooperative InVivo
expects to sign an agreement to buy rival agribusiness Soufflet
in the next two weeks, InVivo's chief executive said on
Wednesday.
    InVivo announced in January it was entering exclusive talks
to acquire Soufflet and create a combined group with about 10
billion euros ($12 billion) in sales.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2JO1YK
    "We should arrive at the signing in the next 10 to 15 days,"
InVivo Chief Executive Thierry Blandinieres told reporters. "We
have covered 95% of the ground."
    The deal will then be presented to European Union and
national antitrust bodies for review, with regulatory clearance
expected to take three to nine months, Blandinieres said during
an online news conference.
    InVivo, a grouping of nearly 200 farmer-owned cooperatives,
and century-old family firm Soufflet are among the largest
players in the French agricultural sector, the European Union's
biggest.
    The enlarged group will house grain trading activities along
with Soufflet's flour milling and malt production and InVivo's
wine distribution and garden retail business.
    Soufflet will remain separate within the combined group.
   ($1 = 0.8284 euros)

 (Reporting by Gus Trompiz and Sybille de La Hamaide; Editing by
David Clarke)
 ((gus.trompiz@thomsonreuters.com; +33 1 49 49 52 18; Reuters
Messaging: gus.trompiz.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))