NEW YORK: Brazilian bidders upped their offer for banana giant Chiquita Brands ahead of a Chiquita shareholder vote on whether it should instead merge with European rival Fyffes.

Juice exporter Cutrale Group and investment bank Safra Group raised their previous cash offer for Chiquita by 50 cents to $14.50 a share, valuing the company at $682 million.

The two argued that the new bid was worth 20 percent more to shareholders than the current value of a Chiquita-Fyffes merger, which would create the world's largest distributor of bananas and other fruits.

Chiquita, which rejected the Brazilian duo's earlier bid, said it would weigh the increased offer even as it heads to Friday's shareholder vote on the Fyffes merger.

Unveiled in March, the proposed merger would combine the two big competitors in the global banana trade but also generate value by relocating Chiquita's tax domicile to Fyffe's home base in Ireland, where corporate taxes are lower than in the United States.

But US government moves to limit the benefits of such so-called "tax inversion" deals, and the prospect of an earlier cash payout from the Brazilian buyers, could sway shareholders in the other direction.

Major institutional shareholders of Chiquita have split on the Fyffes deal. Earlier this week Institutional Shareholder Services endorsed the merger, and a day later Glass Lewis, a rival proxy advisory firm, took a stance against it.