Jamaica Producers Group Limited (JPG) on Oct. 2 accepted an offer from Dole Food Company for the purchase of JPG's 65 per cent shareholdings in JP Fruit Distributors Limited (JPFD) at a price of $2.76 billion.

In a press release, the company disclosed that "the JPG Board reached this decision after extensive deliberations" and that details of the agreement are currently being finalised with Dole.

The week before, Jamaica Producers announced that it was considering a buyout offer from the American fruit processing and distribution firm, who had a 35 per cent stake in JPFD. Under the offer obligations, Producers had to either accept the bid or buy back Dole's interest in the company.

Jamaica Producers cultivates, distributes and markets bananas and other fresh produce. It also manufactures and distributes juices. The conglomerate is Jamaica's largest grower of bananas, controlling some 80 per cent of the island's production, and is also a major marketer of the fruit in Britain.

The company has had a partnership with Dole since 1994 when Producers sold 35 per cent of JPFD to Dole for £18 million, giving Producers access to a wider range of products in the British market. Under the partnership, JPFD increased its market share and became a major player in the UK market.

According to Jamaica Producers' six-month financial results ended June 17, 2006, profits in its UK operations were flat during the first half of 2006 compared to the corresponding period in 2005. This was primarily due to increased competition, as a result of the new banana export regime implemented at the start of the year, in supplying fruits to UK supermarkets.

The previous banana export regime was changed after large-scale Latin American farmers successfully argued to the World Trade Organisation that the previous arrangements of tariffs and quotas were unfair. The old regime gave preferential access to the EU's banana market to the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries with which it had a trade and aid agreement.