Jacobs Douwe Egberts to buy Singapore’s instant coffee maker Super Group for $1 bn

Dutch tea and coffee company Jacobs Douwe Egberts BV (JDE), owned by the investment firm of Germany's wealthy Reimann family, today struck a deal to buy Singapore's instant coffee maker Super Group Ltd, for $1 billion (S$1.45 billion) in cash as part of its plan to extend its footprint into Asia.

Sapphire Investments BV, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of JDE, which itself was formed by a 2014 joint venture between Mondelez International and D.E Master Blenders, is offering to pay S$1.30 a share, a 34-per cent premium to Super's last traded price on 31 October.

Shareholders of Super, holding about 60 per cent of Super's share capital, have agreed to tender all their stock to the offer.

The offer is conditional to Sapphire receiving more than 50 per cent of Super's issued shares being tendered in acceptance of the offer.

If Sapphire acquires 90 per cent of the issued shares pursuant to the offer, it intends to exercise its right to compulsorily acquire the remaining shares and take Super Group private.

Founded in 1987, Super Group is a leading pan-Asian manufacturer of integrated instant food and beverage brands primarily instant coffee and tea, instant tea mixes and instant cereals.

It manufactures and distributes over 160 instant beverage and food products in over 65 countries under multiple iconic brands such as Super, Essenso, OWL and Nutremill.

Super Group currently operates 15 manufacturing facilities located in China, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The deal will give JDE a strong foothold in Asia since Super is the second largest in this sector in the region after Swiss food and beverage giant Nestle SA.

Super holds about 1.6 per cent of the global instant-coffee market share while Nestle holds 41.9 per cent, Bloomberg reported, quoting data from Euromonitor.

Pierre Laubies, CEO of JDE, said ''As part of our global coffee strategy, we are excited to welcome Super Group to JDE and expand our footprint into the strategically important Southeast Asian growth region. The company's long history of leadership, innovation and quality will fit well within our mission to serve our customers with the iconic brands they love.''

Super is the latest in a string of coffee and food brands acquired by the Reimann family through its investment firm JAB Holding, whose investments include JDE, Peet's Coffee & Tea, Keurig Green Mountain and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc.

JAB, based in Luxembourg, also owns or holds stakes in consumer goods conglomerate Reckitt Benckiser, US fragrance and cosmetics group Coty Inc, luxury shoe makers Jimmy Choo, Bally and Belstaff.