MILAN – Italy’s leading roaster Lavazza last week cashed in an estimated $50 million from the sale of 0.23 percent of US, Vermont-based coffee group Keurig Green Mountain.
The Turin-based group, which is the world’s seventh-largest coffee maker, sold nearly 380,000 shares for between $130.40 and $136.34 apiece in a series of seven transactions Jan. 23, bringing its stake in Keurig down to 7.8 percent from 8 percent, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Lavazza said in the document it plans to cut it further by at least another 2.8 percent as it raises cash for acquisitions.
Earlier this year, Lavazza made a binding offer of more than 600 million euros for L’Or and Grand Mere, two coffee brands put up for sale to ease a merger of Illinois-based Mondelez International’s coffee business with Dutch rival D.E. Master Blenders 1753.
