Fyffes of bananas from overseas plantations. In May 1969, the company was renamed Fyffes Group Ltd, recognising the diversity and importance of the then (x-number) subsidiary companies. It became an Irish company following takeover by the Irish group FII plc in 1986. FII plc had been created when Torney Brothers & McCann, (the origins of that company were Charles McCann's apple exporting business founded in 1890) merged with United Fruit Importers Limited to form Fruit Importers of Ireland Limited in 1968. The combined company was initially known as FII Fyffes plc, but became simply Fyffes plc in 1989. In 2002 Fyffes
Cuyamel Fruit Company data from 1927 shows that Cuyamel accounted for about 14% of the bananas imported and sold in the United States that year. In 1929, after the October crash of international financial markets, Zemurray sold Cuyamel to United Fruit in exchange for stock and retired. Black Tuesday sent Cuyamel shares into a tailspin, forcing the combination of the two companies (Vaccaro, known by 1929 as the Standard Fruit Company, remained independent). For his sale of the Cuyamel Fruit Company, Zemurray received 300,000 shares of United Fruit, with a market valuation of $31 million, which would be about $420 million today. With