Sausage-casing maker Devro receives offer from Saria group

One of the leading manufacturers of collagen products for the food industry has had an offer to bought up by the Saria group for around £667m.

Sausage-casing maker Devro was snapped up by Bidco, a subsidiary of Saria, with shareholders entitled to receive 316.1 pence in cash for each share held.

German-based Saria is a market leader in products for both human consumption and animal nutrition, as well as agriculture and pharmaceuticals. Bidco is a subsidiary of Rethmann

The cash offer represents “an attractive premium” of approximately 65 per cent to the closing price of 192 pence per Devro share and 80 per cent to the one month volume weighted average price of 175.9 pence per share.

Steve Good, Chairman of Devro, said its board “believes that the offer from SARIA, which represents a premium of 92 per cent. to the closing price on the last Business Day before receipt by the board of Bidco’s conditional indicative proposal, reflects the strength of Devro, our medium-term prospects, and recognises the substantial improvements made to the company through the successful implementation of our growth strategy.”

The offer also provides an opportunity for Devro shareholders to crystallise, in cash, the value of their investments at a fair and reasonable value.”

Harald van Boxtel, chief executive of Bidco, said: “The proposed combination of Devro and the SARIA group will bring together two leading international businesses with complementary product portfolios, particularly in the sausage casings market, providing a platform for sustainable and scalable growth in highly attractive and dynamic categories.”