TOKYO (Reuters) -Mitsubishi has made an offer to increase its stake in Thai Union Group Public Company Limited, a major canned tuna producer, to 20% from 6.19%, both companies said on Monday, as the Japanese trading house expands further into the food business.
Mitsubishi was seeking to buy 532,273,639 shares in the company, or 13.81%, according to the Thai company. Based on the offering price of 12.5 Thai baht ($0.3853) per share disclosed by Mitsubishi, the deal is worth around $205 million.
Last month, Mitsubishi said it planned to spend around $1 billion to expand in salmon farming by acquiring additional businesses in Norway and Canada, part of a push into the food business, with a focus on protein.
Higher profits in the diversified food businesses run by Japanese trading houses offset weaker performances at their commodities units, drawing attention from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway to take minority stakes in Japan’s top five trading houses, including Mitsubishi.
($1 = 32.4400 baht)
(Reporting by Katya Golubkova; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
