Italy’s Illy coffee attracts interest from JAB and Nestle | Progresiv
Italian coffee maker Illycaffe SpA has attracted interest from suitors including JAB Holding Co and Nestle, but the family owners have so far rebuffed approaches, according to people familiar with the matter. 
JAB, which has built a coffee empire through a series of acquisitions, is interested in buying all of the Trieste-based coffee roaster, according to the people, who asked not to be named as the details aren’t public. Nestle approached Illy some months ago and was told the family was unwilling to sell for the time being, the people said.
Representatives for JAB and Nestle declined to comment.
“We have regular contacts with those companies, as with almost all other companies in the sector, to discuss noncompetitive matters such as coffee and health, adaptation to climate change and market standards,” Illy Chairman Andrea Illy said in a statement. “Every hypothesis of corporate agreements has been deemed inappropriate.
Illy, founded in 1933 by Francesco Illy and known for high-end espresso sold in silver-and-red cans, is led by the third generation of the same family. The business reported about 460 million euros in sales for 2016, up 5.3 percent from a year earlier, and operates in 140 countries.
The Italian company is one of the biggest independent coffee roasters left in a business consolidating around three big players: Nestle, JAB and Starbucks Corp. Bidding for Illy would probably start at around three times its revenue, or about 1.6 billion dollars, according to Jon Cox, an analyst at Kepler Cheuvreux.
JAB owns brands and retailers including Peet’s, Stumptown and Caribou and paid about 1.5 billion pounds for sandwich-and-coffee chain Pret A Manger in May, people familiar with the matter have said. The investment company, backed by the billionaire Reimann family, is also raising about 5 billion euros from investors, people familiar with the situation said last month. (www.bloomberg.com)
