Strauss buys German coffee producer

strauss
strauss

Strauss Coffee will pay €32 million for Norddeutsche Kaffeewerke and waive a loan of €17.9 million.

Strauss Group Ltd. (TASE:STRS) has taken up its option to acquire German coffee producer Norddeutsche Kaffeewerke GmbH, the Israeli company announced this morning. The German company produces freeze dried instant coffee in the factory that it owns, mainly for Strauss Coffee's subsidiary in Russia and other countries that were in the former Soviet Union.

As set out in its leasing agreement with the German company, Strauss will pay €32 million to realize its option and waive the balance of a loan still owed, currently amounting to €17.9 million. Strauss does not believe that the factory will require any additional investment in the near future and the acquisition will be funded by Strauss Coffee's own equity.

Strauss Coffee CEO Tomer Harpaz said, "The acquisition we are making is another stage in realizing Strauss Coffee's strategy of providing consumers worldwide with the world's most advanced coffee products.

He added, "The factory we are buying is the high-tech of the coffee world and contains macro-grinding technology for the most advanced and sophisticated preparation of all types of instant coffee. Strauss recently installed in the factory, the most advanced system in the world for producing super premium instant coffee with espresso added. This makes Strauss one of the few exclusive companies with such a factory."

In 2012, Strauss Coffee concluded an agreement with Norddeutsche Kaffeewerke, which is located near Hamburg, for freeze dried instant coffee production using Strauss employees and technology, and Strauss made a major investment in it. The factory will now be fully owned by Strauss Coffee.

Strauss Coffee is a global company with annual sales of more than $1 billion. The company invests in local coffee brands and leads in various markets including Brazil, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Russia, Ukraine, and Israel.

The company has 14 production sites worldwide and has 7,500 employees. Sales reached NIS 3.4 billion in 2015 and NIS 2.6 billion in the first nine months of 2016.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 22, 2016

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2016

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