BAT buys Reynolds for £40.58bn

 

British American Tobacco has agreed to acquire its US rival Reynolds  American Inc. for £ 40.58bn ($49.4bn) in deal that will create world’s biggest tobacco company.

BAT currently the second largest group behind Malboro maker Altria, said it will pay Reynolds’s investors $56.5 per share  in cash and shares deal, a 20 per cent premium on the Lucky Strike and Camel cigarette maker’s closing share price from Oct 20, 2016 The BAT already has a 42.2 per cent stake in Reynolds, the US’s largest cigarette maker, which snapped up US Lorillard.

Nocandro Durante, BAT’s chief executive, “ the proposed merger of our two great companies is the logical progression in our relationship. It offers all shareholders a stake in a stronger , global tobacco and next generation products company.