Douwe Egberts maker in €7.5bn buyout

The maker of Douwe Egberts coffee has agreed a €7.5bn (£6.4bn) takeover bid from the private equity group which also owns the Jimmy Choo shoes business and Belstaff clothes brand.

DE Master Blenders 1753, which also makes Pickwick teas, has accepted the takeover from Joh A Benckiser (JAB), the investment arm of the wealthy Reimann family which is chaired by Bart Becht, a former chief executive of the consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser.

JAB, which had built a 15 per cent holding in Master Blend, owns Caribou Coffee and Peet’s Coffee & Tea. Master Blend is the third-largest coffee producer by sales ranking behind Nestlé, maker of Nescafé, and the former Kraft Foods business Mondelez, which owns Cafe Noir and Jacobs. It was spun out of the US food giant Sara Lee last year.