Jacobs Douwe Egberts AU has announced that it has received Overseas Investment Office approval for the acquisition of BrewGroup NZ (formerly Bell Tea and Coffee Company Ltd) for an undisclosed sum.
“For many years we have been impressed by the strong Kiwi presence of the BrewGroup and are very pleased to welcome them to our coffee and tea family. Together with our local market knowledge, our global infrastructure and a history of sustained category growth, this acquisition is a marriage made in heaven as we seek to further improve consumer choice across the coffee and tea category,” said David Ansell, managing director for JDE Australia.
According to Mark Hamilton, CEO BrewGroup NZ, the company has worked hard to establish a portfolio of uniquely New Zealand coffee and tea brands throughout the years. “This marks the next step in our journey and I am particularly excited about the accessibility my team will have to JDE’s global innovation capabilities. We look forward to an exciting future together in NZ and beyond,” said Hamilton. Hamilton will be leaving the business as CEO, but remain on the JDE NZ board as a non-executive director.
JDE will also explore opportunities to increase exports and put some of the highly successful Kiwi brands on the global stage. The enlarged portfolio of JDE NZ will include: Moccona, L’OR, Bach Espresso, Hummingbird, Bell, Jed’s, Burtons, Gravity and Ti Ora.
“This is a defining moment for the NZ coffee and tea category. It also provides brands such as Jed’s and Ti Ora the opportunity to be sold in Australia and beyond,” said Ansell.
The two companies will continue to operate as separate operating units for the next two months with integration to begin in February 2017. “While we acquire BrewGroup on November 30, it will be business as usual throughout the December and January holiday period for our associates and our customers,” said Ansell.
