Chiquita reaffirms commitment to Fyffes merger, sees synergies

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Chiquita Brands International on Wednesday re-affirmed its commitment to a merger with Irish tropical fruit company Fyffes Plc and said it expected the deal to yield cost synergies of $60 million (47.71 million pounds). Earlier in August Chiquita rejected a rival takeover offer form Brazilian juice maker Cutrale and the Safra Group, a banking and real estate conglomerate. "Chiquita and Fyffes remain committed to the transaction and are continuing to work together to complete the combination as expeditiously as possible," said Ed Lonergan, Chiquita's chief executive officer, in a joint statement issued by the two firms. The two companies said they had identified an additional $20 million of synergies for a total of at least $60 million in annualised pre-tax cost synergies by the end of 2016. (Reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by David Holmes)