MILAN – JAB Holding Co, the Luxembourg-based investment company owned by Germany’s billionaire Reimann family, has taken another step toward the planned initial public offering of its coffee and tea business, reports Bloomberg quoting confidential sources familiar with the matter.
The investment firm has appointed BNP Paribas SA and JPMorgan Chase & Co. for help and advice on the planned listing, according to the news agency.
A spokesperson for JAB did not respond to a request for comment about hiring investment banks, reports Forbes.
JAB announced in December that it would merge Jacobs Douwe Egberts, the world’s second-biggest coffee bean roaster in terms of volume after Switzerland-based Nestlé as well as the world’s leading pure-play coffee company, with Peet’s Coffee, its premium U.S. retail brand, into a single group called JDE Peet’s ahead of a possible listing this year.
JDE Peet’s, which also owns Tassimo coffee pods and Pickwick and Senseo teas, would be headed up by Peet’s chief executive Casey Keller, Forbes also said. The combined division will be present in 140 countries and have an annual revenue of €7 billion.
JAB, which also owns Krispy Kreme, Dr Pepper and Snapple, bought Peet’s in 2012 for $977.6 million and Douwe Egberts for $9.8 billion a year later. In 2014 it combined Douwe Egberts with the coffee businesses of Mondelez International to form JDE.
JAB hasn’t said how large a stake it would sell or where the company would be listed. Analysts have speculated that it could choose Amsterdam, which is home to Douwe Egberts. JAB said in December that it intends to remain a controlling shareholder after the IPO.
With the IPO, the parties hope to raise 3 billion euros. This would make it the largest European IPO since the IPO of Knorr-Bremse since October 2018.
