Danone, the French food multinational, has made a cash offer of €12.3bn ($16.8bn) for Royal Numico, the Dutch maker of Cow & Gate, Milupa and Olvarit baby food.
Danone and Numico said on Monday they had struck a preliminary agreement for a €55-per-share cash offer – representing a 44 per cent premium over the average Numico closing price over the past three months.
