Germany's Benckiser to buy Peet's Coffee for $1 billion

[xchrom]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/10349697

Reuters) - Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc said on Monday it struck a deal to be acquired by Joh. A. Benckiser for about $1 billion, a move that will give Peet's a financial jolt as it competes against larger coffee and tea shops and will broaden the reach of Germany's Reimann family in the coffee business.
The offer price of $73.50 per share in cash represents a premium of nearly 29 percent over Peet's July 20 closing stock price of $57.16.
Shares of Peet's were trading at $73.70, above the offer price, after soaring to $74.25 in morning trading on Nasdaq.
Peet's, a specialty coffee and tea company, was founded in 1966 and competes with chains such as Starbucks Corp , the Seattle-based coffee behemoth that owned Peet's for a few years in the 1980s.
Joh. A. Benckiser, the investment vehicle for the Reimann family of Germany, owns stakes in companies such as household products maker Reckitt Benckiser Plc and fragrance and cosmetics company Coty Inc.
Benckiser expressed a strong taste for the coffee business earlier this month when it said it might increase its minority stake in D E Master Blenders 1753 NV , the Douwe Egberts coffee business spun out of Sara Lee and listed in Amsterdam.

[bluedigger]

1. Is this about precursors?

[Swede]

2. Out of the blue

and into the black......

[Bolo Boffin]

9. Do you think all those other brands were distribution networks? n/t

[bluedigger]

10. That would be pretty wild.

Maybe there were a bunch of Gus's...

[enough]

3. Wow, I sometimes order from Peets, out of nostalgia for when it was a neat little walk-in shop

in Berkeley back in 1968 or so. That place smelled amazing. I still use some double-lidded tea canisters I bought there then.

I guess the place changed while I wasn't looking. Anybody have advice as to good places to order coffee and tea that aren't huge billion-dollar businesses?

[arcane1]

4. That beats having Starbicks buy them

Love me some Peets!

[KamaAina]

5. Amen to that!

A shudder ran through the entire Bay Area when it was learned that the Evil Empire was interested in gobbling up Peet's!

[arcane1]

6. StarBUCKS, even!

[ljm2002]

7. Just to set the record straight...

...the article says: "...Starbucks Corp , the Seattle-based coffee behemoth that owned Peet's for a few years in the 1980s..."

While that is true, we should remember that not only was Peet's there first (their first store, that is still going strong, is on Walnut Square in Berkeley, CA), but the founder of Starbucks learned the trade from Mr. Peet.

The difference being, Peet's has maintained a quality standard far above that maintained by Starbucks. Not that all Starbucks coffee is bad, but it doesn't even come close to Peet's in my opinion.

[Franker65]

8. Price changes?

More competition for these giant coffee corporations has to be a good thing. I don't go to Starbucks because its way too expensive...if something brings down their prices, then I'll be quite happy.