Latham & Watkins Advised Mission In US$430 Million Acquisition Of Calavo Growers

Latham & Watkins Advised Mission in US$430 Million Acquisition of Calavo Growers

Latham & Watkins advised Mission Produce, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVO) (Mission), a global leader in sourcing, producing, and distributing fresh avocados, and Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ: CVGW) (Calavo), a leading provider of fresh avocados, tomatoes, papayas, and value-added prepared foods such as guacamole, announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Mission will acquire Calavo in a cash-and-stock transaction. Under the terms of the Agreement, Calavo stockholders will receive US$27 per share (based on the 30-trading day volume weighted average price of Mission common stock for the period ending January 13, 2026), comprised of US$14.85 in cash and 0.9790 shares of Mission for each share of Calavo. Upon close, based on the shares currently outstanding, Mission shareholders are expected to own approximately 80.3% of the combined company and Calavo shareholders are expected to own approximately 19.7%. The transaction values Calavo at a total enterprise value of approximately US$430 million. The transaction price represents a premium of approximately 26% to Calavo’s 30-trading day volume weighted average price of US$21.41. The Boards of Directors of both companies have approved the transaction, which is expected to close by the end of August 2026, subject to the receipt of required regulatory approvals, the approvals of Mission and Calavo shareholders, and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.

The Latham & Watkins LLP team led by Los Angeles Steven Stokdyk (Partner), and Orange County Darren Guttenberg (Partner), with Elena Burns (Associate), Leah Beukelman (Associate), Blake LaClaire (Associate), Lindsey Doyle (Associate), and Irena Huang (Associate), and assistance from Adrian Guess. Advice was also provided on anti-bribery and anti-corruption matters by Los Angeles Manny Abascal (Partner) and Washington, D.C. Katherine Sawyer (Counsel), with Patricia Amselem (Associate) on tax matters by Los Angeles Ana O’Brien (Partner), and Los Angeles Eric Song (Counsel), with assistance from Daniel Mousseri, on benefits and labor matters by Los Angeles Larry Seymour (Partner), and Joe Farrell (Partner), and Orange County Sara Schlau (Counsel), with Maddie Bober (Associate) on trade controls matters by Washington, D.C. Les Carnegie (Partner), with Eric Green (Associate), Joelle Hageboutros (Associate), and Amulya Vadapalli (Associate) on real estate matters by New York Justin Elliott (Partner), and New York Shira Bressler (Counsel), with Leah Toney (Associate) on environmental matters by Orange County Chris Norton (Partner) on intellectual property matters by Orange County David Kuiper (Counsel) on antitrust matters by Bay Area Joshua Holian (Partner), with Rebecca Frumento (Associate), Alec Dougherty (Associate), and Bernie Archbold (Associate) and on FDA matters by Washington, D.C. William McConagha (Partner), with Meryl Bartlett (Associate).

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