Almarai buys into Jordan drinks company

Riyadh, December 17, 2008

Almarai, Saudi Arabia's largest dairy company by market value, said on Wednesday it had finalised an agreement to buy 75 per cent of a Jordanian beverage firm, its first foreign acquisition.

Almarai will its own cash to finance the purchase of the stake in Taibah's Investment and Advanced Food Company, a dairy and juice manufacturer valued at 474 million riyals ($126.4 million) debt excluded, Almarai said in a statement posted on the Saudi bourse website.

"This is Almarai's first takeover outside Saudi Arabia," it added. Taibah's founders will keep the remaining 25 percent stake.-Reuters

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