THE HAGUE: Refresco, Europe’s largest juice and soft-drink maker, said Tuesday it has received an improved takeover bid from Paris-based investor PAI Partners worth 1.6 billion euros ($1.9 billion). The Dutch independent bottler, which works with brands as Innocent and Del Monte, fended off an initial offer from the private equity firm in April worth 1.4 bn euros. The Rotterdam-based Refresco said its board will now “carefully review the proposal, taking into account all Refresco’s stakeholders”. It said the offer was subject to a number of conditions, but it did not elaborate. Refresco’s share price jumped by more than 8.6 percent to 18.83 euros in afternoon trading on the Amsterdam stock exchange’s AMX index, where it has been listed since 2015. Jos Versteeg, an analyst at the Amsterdam-based Theodoor Gilissen private bank told AFP he did not expect the unsolicited bid to evolve into a hostile takeover attempt. But he did predict that Refresco’s management might hold on for an even better price than the 19.75 euro per share PAI is currently offering. “I think they (Refresco’s management) will play hard to get. It’s a good deal, but of course they may ask for a little bit higher. That is absolutely possible,” said Versteeg. The company bottles soft drinks and fruit juices for retailers across mainland Europe, Britain and the United States. It employs some 5,500 people and last year bottled some 6.5 billion litres of soft drinks and juice, earning a net profit of 81.5 million euros. PAI’s new proposal comes after Refresco agreed in July to buy the soda business of Canada-based Cott Corp in a deal worth $1.25 billion. That deal solidified Refresco’s position as a major player in the bottling industry, the analyst Versteeg said.