NORTH STRATHFIELD, NSW, Australia – Suntory Beverage & Food Limited (“SBF”) has entered into an agreement to sell its fresh coffee business in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore to UCC ANZ MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, a subsidiary of UCC Holdings Co., Ltd (“UCC”).
The total consideration of the transaction is around A$229 million with the sale expected to be completed in the first half of 2022.
SBF’s fresh coffee business is the largest fresh coffee roaster in Australia and New Zealand with iconic brands in speciality coffee including Toby’s Estate, L’affare, and Atomic; mainstream coffee including Robert Harris, and Mocopan; and a significant contract roasting operation servicing key accounts in the retail and convenience sector.
UCC is a leading global coffee business that operates across various aspects of the coffee production cycle, including managing coffee estates , raw ingredient procurement and importing, R&D and quality assurance , manufacturing, product distribution and sales. UCC is headquartered in Japan and has a number of overseas bases across Asia, Europe and the Americas.
Kazuhiro Saito, CEO of SBF said: “UCC has highly valued the brand strength of our fresh coffee business in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore that has been cultivated under SBF ownership.
“They anticipate further growing the business and brands by leveraging their international experience and capability in coffee roasting, and their extensive global distribution channels,” he said.
Dean Divehall, CEO of SBF’s fresh coffee business in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore said the company was pleased with the outcome of the transaction.
“Over the past 6 months we have conducted a strategic review to assess options to further maximise value of the fresh coffee business in this region, including the opportunity to enhance value under potential new ownership.
“The sale to UCC represents a positive outcome for employees, customers and wider stakeholders of our fresh coffee business in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.
“It represents a positive alignment with UCC’s strategy to create further value by leveraging their international experience and capability in coffee roasting, distribution and marketing to further develop our market-leading brands within their international network.
“The fresh coffee business and each of our brands have been performing strongly in recent years and the sale to UCC represents a new chapter to accelerate our growth in this market,” he said.
Gota Ueshima, Group CEO of UCC Group said: “We believe Suntory’s fresh coffee business has an outstanding position in the Australian, New Zealand and Singapore coffee markets driven by its brand portfolio, pioneering history in coffee and highly experienced management team.
“We see the addition of the fresh coffee business to our portfolio as highly complementary, creating a truly global leader in the coffee industry given UCC’s established position across Japan, Asia and Europe.
“We intend to maximise the potential of UCC and the fresh coffee business to achieve dynamic and sustainable growth in the global coffee market,” Gota Ueshima said.
The sale agreement does not impact SBF’s other businesses in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.
