SINGAPORE – Olam International Limited (“Olam’’), a leading agribusiness operating across the value chain in 70 countries announced today that it has acquired 100.0% interest in East African coffee specialist, Schluter S.A. (“Schluter”).
Established since 1858, Schluter is an independent coffee company which specialises in trading East African specialty and premium Arabica coffees.
A founding member of the Specialty Coffee Association in Europe, Schluter is based in Switzerland with marketing offices in Nyon and Liverpool in the UK, and operates milling facilities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC”) and Burundi.
It runs farmer support programmes funded by European development agencies, which involve six nurseries and 1,800 farmers who are certified suppliers of organic coffees.
Vivek Verma, Managing Director and CEO of Olam Coffee, said: “Schluter’s name has been
synonymous with fine coffees out of East Africa for generations.
Their team in Europe will complement Olam’s marketing efforts and further strengthen our reach and relationships with our roaster clients. Schluter is clearly a strong fit into our strategy for three key reasons.
– Our entry into the European specialty coffee market will complement our expanding
speciality coffee presence in the US; Schluter will also deepen our origination expertise in
East Africa; and their focus on building sustainable supply chains with smallholders is
strongly aligned to our core purpose of Growing Responsibly and our pursuit of the Olam
Livelihood Charter.”
Schluter’s Managing Director Philip Schluter said: “We are a company who has been
passionate in the promotion of African coffees and the livelihood of the farmers who produce it.
We have been at the forefront of the specialty coffee movement in Europe. I am pleased
that we have found a market leader like Olam that shares the same goals and aspirations as us in growing the speciality coffee market.
As a combined business, I am confident we will be able to serve our customers and partners in many ways better than before.”
The acquisition is made at an enterprise value of US$7.5 million and is funded by a combination of internal accruals and existing debt facilities.
With the acquisition, Schluter will become the specialty arm of Olam Coffee in Europe.
