Italy’s Lavazza coffee brand has reached agreement to purchase a Danish coffee brand from D.E. Master Blenders. Dutch group D. E. Master Blenders is seeking to comply with European competition authorities’ conditions for approving its merger with Mondelez’s coffee business. One of the conditions for the merger to be cleared was that Mondelez must also sell French brand Carte Noire. Lavazza in April mentioned that it was in contention to purchase Carte Noire. Lavazza however declined to say whether that was still the case after the acquisition o the Danish coffee brand.
The Italian coffee group said on Friday in a statement sent to Reuters. “Lavazza has agreed in terms with D.E. Master Blenders 1753 BV to meet the conditions of the European Commission regarding divestment of the Merrill brand.” Closing of the deal is subject to the Commission’s approval, it also mentioned.
Lavazza did not disclose the financial terms of the deal. Last month, the EC approved the merger of Mondelez’s coffee business with D.E. Master Blenders (DEMB) to create the world’s biggest standalone coffee company, Jacobs Douse Egberts, on condition they sell certain businesses first. ($1 = 0.8914 euros)
About Lavazza
Luigi Lavazza S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of coffee products. Lavazza was founded in Turin in 1895 by Luigi Lavazza. The popular coffee brand was initially run from a small grocery store at Via San Tommaso 10. Now the company is being run by the third and fourth generation of the Lavazza family.
Lavazza imports coffee from around the world. Countries in South America, Central America, Africa, Asia and in North America. Branded as “Italy’s Favourite Coffee,” the company claims that 16 million out of the 20 million coffee purchasing families in Italy choose their brand. Among its offerings today are products such as Top Class, Super Crema, Crema e Gusto, Grand’Espresso, Dek (decaffeinated), and coffee capsules A Modo Mio, “Espresso Point” and BLUE. Lavazza is official coffee at the Italy Pavilion, Expo 2015.
About DE Master Blenders
Douse Egberts is the main brand name for D.E. Master Blenders 1753, a multinational tea and coffee company from the Netherlands. It was founded in Joure in the Netherlands by Egbert Douwes in 1753 as By 1925 it had changed its name to Douse Egberts (which is meaning Douse, the son of Egbert), and had introduced the red seal as its logo. The company expanded through Europe, acquiring other tea, coffee and tobacco companies, such as the UK tea distributor Hornimans, until it was taken over by the Sara Lee Corporation in 1978. The tobacco interests, Van Nelle and Drum rolling tobacco, were sold to Imperial Tobacco in 1998.
In 2001 the company in collaboration with Philips produced the Senseo coffee maker system. With profits from the coffee division are considers from rivals such as Nestlé and Kraft, and being unable to find a buyer, in 2012 Sara Lee split off the coffee division into D.E Master Blenders 1753, offering share-holders one share in the new company for each main share they held. In 2013 German investor group Joh. A. Benckiser made an offer to purchase D.E Master Blenders 1753 for $9.8 billion. D. E. Masters stock market evolution http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/dembf
About Mondalez
Mondelēz International, Inc. is a North American multinational confectionery, food and beverage company. Currently it has around 107,000 people around the world. It comprises the global snack and food brands of the former Kraft Foods Inc. The Mondelēz name, adopted in 2012, came from the input of Kraft Foods employees at the time, a combination of the words for “world” and “delicious” in Romance languages.
Mondelēz International manages snack brands around the globe, including cookies and crackers (Oreo, Chips Ahoy!, TUC, Evita, Triscuit, Club Social, Barni, Peek Freans) and gum and candy such as popular Cadbury Dairy Milk and Dentyne. The company is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, and is a manufacturer of chocolate, biscuits, gum, confectionery, coffee, and powdered beverages. The company consists of the global snacking and food brands from Kraft Foods Inc. following the spin-off of its North American grocery operations in October 2012. Mondelēz International’s portfolio includes several billion-dollar brands such as Cadbury (acquired through a buy out of Cadbury in 2010) and Milka chocolate, Jacobs coffee, Toblerone, Nabisco and Oreo cookies, powdered beverages, and Trident gums. Mondelēz International has annual revenue of approximately $36 billion and operations in more than 80 countries. Mondelēz Canada controls the rights to Christie Brown and Company, which consists of brands such as Mr. Christie and Dad’s Cookies. The headquarters in Mississauga, Ontario with operations in Scarborough and Montreal. Mondelez stock market evolution http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/mdlz
