Strauss Group buys TPG out of Strauss Coffee to regain control | Progresiv
Israel’s Strauss Group has regained full ownership of Strauss Coffee, after agreeing to buy out the 25.1% stake held by US-based TPG Capital. The 257 million euros deal will put Strauss Coffee under Strauss Group’s ownership for the first time since TPG Capital took a stake in the business in 2008. 
The value of the buyout represents a significant premium on the 293 million dollars that TPG paid at the time: despite being worth almost 270 million euros today, it amounted to less than 200 million euros during the depth of the euro’s value against the dollar.
Strauss Group president and CEO Gadi Lesin said: “This is an important day of celebration for Strauss Group and Strauss Coffee. The acquisition of the outstanding shares in our coffee company is yet another confirmation of our long-term strategy and of the growing dominance of Strauss Coffee’s global status and its impact on Strauss Group, in realisation of our commitment to be active in areas that improve people’s lives all over the world.
“Coffee is a core business for Strauss Group, and the transaction reflects our belief in the coffee category, in the global coffee market as attractive, growing and resilient and, of course, in the coffee company and its employees.”
Lesin said that the buyout would ‘create strategic and operational value for the company’. He reaffirmed the group’s belief in Strauss Coffee’s ability to continue its growth and add value for shareholders.
On top of the announcement that it would buy TPG Capital out of Strauss Capital, the group has reported full-year sales for 2016 of ILS 7.9 billion (2.18 billion dollars) – up from ILS 7.6 billion the year before.
The 3.9% growth was driven by ‘significant achievements at Strauss Israel, together with continued improvement in Strauss Water’, the company said.
Gross profit was up 5.4% to ILS 2.98 billion (820 million dollars), while operating profit was 12.8% higher at ILS 744 million (205 million dollars).
But its fourth-quarter profit was down by more than 20% on the back of a recall of its Sabra spreads in the US. (www.foodbev.com)
