PARIS (Reuters) - Swiss perfumes company Firmenich has agreed to buy a 17% equity stake in French peer Robertet (PA:ROBF) and added on Thursday it may later acquire a bigger, controlling stake in the firm.
Firmenich, which says it is the world's largest privately-owned perfume and taste company, said in an email it had reached a deal with First Eagle Investment Management to buy the 17% stake at a price of 683.30 euros per share.
The price represents a premium of 1.2% to Robertet's closing price of 675 euros on Sept. 25. Robertet has a market capitalisation of about 1.6 billion euros 1.6 billion euros (£1.42 billion).