Big cheese: Dairy Crest shares soar after Saputo’s £976m bid

Utterly Butterly and Cathedral City Cheddar cheese brand Dairy Crest is set to be taken over in a deal worth almost £1bn, the group announced this morning.

Canadian dairy giant Saputo, which is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, is expected to snap up the London-listed firm for roughly £976m.

The deal price of 620p in cash for each Dairy Crest share represents a premium of about 11.7 per cent to Dairy Crest’s close of 555p on Thursday.

Shareholders welcomed the bid, sending Dairy Crest's shares up 12.7 per cent to 625.5p – more than the actual offer is worth.

Saputo, which is one of the world’s largest diary groups, operates from 62 plants in more than 40 countries.

Read more: Dairy Crest revenues move ahead of last year as cheese brands milk sales

Saputo's chairman and boss Lino A Saputo said that Dairy Crest was a "compelling opportunity for Dairy Crest shareholders, providing immediate value certainty".

Meanwhile, Dairy Crest's chairman, Stephen Alexander, said "this all-cash offer… represents compelling value for Dairy Crest's shareholders".

The news comes less than a month after Daily Crest maintained its full-year outlook after a bump in third-quarter sales, as appetite for its cheese and butter brands showed little sign of slowing down.

Peel Hunt is acting exclusively for Dairy Crest in the deal.

Lazard is acting as sole financial adviser to Saputo.