MILAN — Family-owned Italian specialty coffee roaster illycaffè has received proposals from suitors including JAB Holding and Nestlé, but the company so far rebuffed approaches, reported Bloomberg on Tuesday citing “people familiar with the matter”.
JAB 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. Nestlé 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 Nestlé declined to comment, while illycaffè issued a short statement.
“We have regular contacts with those companies, as with almost all other companies in the sector, to discuss non-competitive matters, such as coffee and health, adaptation to climate change and market standards,” said the chairman Andrea Illy. “Every hypothesis of corporate agreements has been deemed inappropriate.”
