Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc announced on Wednesday that Affelka S.A. (“Affelka”), the majority shareholder of the firm has raised its offer price to acquire the remaining shares of minority shareholders it does not already own at a cost of ₦21.4bn ($66.5 million)

In a note sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the soft drinks company said that Affelka has revised its offer upwards to ₦125 per share, from ₦112.70 (One hundred and twelve naira and seventy kobo) for the 171,542,574 million shares held by minority shareholders.

The statement further said that the new proposed Scheme Consideration represents a 22.6% premium to the last traded share price of the company on 9th January 2018, and a 27.6% premium to the price on 10th August 2017 which was the last business day prior to the date the initial proposal was received from Affelka.

Affelka S.A. is a holding company for the El Khalil family, the founders of Seven-Up Bottling Company and currently holds 73.22% of the company’s shares while it seeks to acquire the remaining 26.78% shares held by others.

The soft drinks maker first announced on Thursday 30th November that it had received an offer from Affelka to acquire the remaining shares of minority shareholders amid losses over the last few years. Sunil Sawney, Vice Chairman of Seven-Up said at the time that the aim of the acquisition was to restructure the company, adding that delisting the firm from the stock exchange after the buyout would be “logical”.

The firm further said that that the revised Scheme Consideration submitted by Affelka would be voted on at the Court-Ordered Meeting which is scheduled for Thursday 11th January 2018.

Seven-Up is Nigeria’s second largest soft drinks maker, behind Coca-Cola and bottles PepsiCo brands of soft drinks such as Pepsi Cola, 7-Up, Mountain Dew, Aquafina bottled water and others. The firm started operations in the country in 1959 and became a public company in 1978.