The British company has its headquarters in St Albans and employs 4,000 people across its 13 UK sites. It initially rejected McCormick’s offer of 52p per share in February of this year, before entering an agreement with Japanese company Nissin Foods to sell 17.2% of the business.
Despite this, McCormack came back with an improved offer of 65p per share for a complete takeover of the UK food producer. But after competing due diligence checks, it has decided not to go ahead with the deal.
A statement from McCormick said that, after “careful consideration”, it had decided it was not able to offer a price that would meet the board of Premier Foods’ valuation “while also delivering appropriate returns for McCormick shareholders”.
An official response from Premier Foods said that, despite the setback, the company had a “strong future” and predicted its “prospects would be enhanced” by the successful negotiations with Nissin Foods.
