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Food & drink

Devro falls to one of Germany's richest families in takeover deal worth £667mln

Sausage skin maker Devro PLC (LSE:DVO) is exiting the stock market after 29 years after succumbing to a £667mln bid from a food company owned by one of Germany’s wealthiest families.

Saria Group is part of the Rethmann empire and is paying 316.1p a share for the UK business, which has been listed since 1993.

That is a 65% premium to Thursday’s close and was sufficient to gain the backing of the Devro board.

The Rethmans are among Germany’s wealthiest and best-known families due primarily to their stewardship of Rethmann SE & Co, which owns water treatment, agriculture and food production and transport logistics assets.

The company was founded in 1934 when Josef Rethmann took over a rail freight forwarding company in Selm, a town around 25 kilometres north of Dortmund.