Shares in Kerry Group closed at a record €116.10 on Monday amidst speculation that Kerry Group is looking at a mega merger with the nutrition business of US multinational DuPont. The deal would be potentially transformative for Kerry Group and would propel the food ingredients firm to a leading position globally.

The DuPont division, which had sales of $6.8bn (€6.2bn) last year, would double the size of the Kerry Group, which had sales of €6.6bn in 2018.

DuPont has been considering what is called a Reverse Morris Trust, which is a tax-free mechanism to spin out the division and merge it with the ingredients division of another company. This would put Kerry Group top of the pile of potential suitors along with other logical partners such as Royal DSM, Givaudan and International Flavors and Fragrances.

While it is unclear how Kerry Group would fund a $20bn (€18bn) deal, a merger between Kerry and the DuPont division looks like it would significantly dilute the co-op’s remaining 13% of the plc.