Icelandic meat processing machine maker Marel has set its sights on the food processing division of engineering group Stork, reports the Financieele Dagblad this morning. Marel has an 8% stake in Stork and is opposed to the company’s three-pronged approach.

Stork is currently unde siege from hedge funds Centaurus and Paulson who want to split up the company. ‘We have been in contact with Stork on various occasions,’ Marel Arni Oddur Thordarson told the paper. ‘We are financially ready to take over Stork Food. We hope we can do this in a friendly way. We have worked closely with Stork Food for eight years and we would like to secure that alliance.’ Stork is holding an EGM to discuss the split-up demands on Thursday.
Marel later issued a statement stressing the talks between it and Stork were purely informal.