JAB Holding continued its coffee acquisition spree on Thursday by offering to buy Singapore-listed Super Group Ltd (SPGP.SI) for S$1.45 billion ($1 billion) to expand the world’s largest standalone coffee business in Southeast Asia and China.
JAB’s Jacobs Douwe Egberts unit has offered S$1.30 per Super share, a premium of 34 percent to the stock’s last price of S$0.97 before trading was halted on Oct. 31, the companies said in a statement on Thursday.
Shares in Super Group, which has long been viewed by analysts as a potential acquisition target, jumped 30 percent to S$1.26 after trading resumed on Thursday.
Founded in 1987, Super is a leading pan-Asian food and drink maker with a portfolio of products including instant coffee and tea and 15 factories in China, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The planned acquisition is the latest in a flurry of deals by JAB, the investment vehicle of Europe’s billionaire Reimann family run by three prominent consumer industry veterans.
It bought doughnut chain Krispy Kreme and U.S. single-serve coffee giant Keurig Green Mountain this year, after forming the JDE joint venture last year from the coffee business of Mondelez International (MDLZ.O) and its D.E Master Blenders 1753.
JAB now oversees the world’s biggest standalone coffee empire, though the coffee brands owned by food giant Nestle (NESN.S), Nescafe and Nespresso, still generate more sales and control a bigger portion of the global market.
Shareholders with a combined 60 percent stake in Super have agreed to tender all of their shares in the offer, which is subject to antitrust and other approvals being cleared by May 3.
Evercore Asia (Singapore) Pte Ltd is the financial adviser to Super.
Source: reuters.com/article/us-jacobs-douwe-super-group-mergers-idUSKBN12Y0TN
