Dutch company JDE to buy OldTown for RM1.47bn

Dutch tea and coffee company Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE) plans to buy coffee company OldTown for RM1.47 billion, according to a statement on OldTown's website.OldTown operates 232 cafe outlets worldwide, including Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong and China, under the brand name "OldTown White Coffee". JDE is a privately-owned company incorporated in the Netherlands with a global coffee and tea business. Among its list of brands include Cafe Prima, Damasco, Jacobs, Moccona and Seleto. In a statement to A+M, OldTown confirmed that its operations in Singapore will remain unaffected. The chain was brought to Singapore by local celebrity Mark Lee.This announcement follows JDE's acquisition of Super Group, which houses brands including Owl and Gold Cafe, in June this year. Jiri Kulik, president, Latin America Asia Pacific, JDE, is leading the enlarged Asia-Pacific-LatAm JDE team from its newly established regional headquarters in Singapore.“We are deeply honoured that JDE recognises the powerful brand and platform that we have tirelessly built over the past 18 years. We strongly believe JDE is the ideal partner as we continue to serve best-in-class products to our customers. We look forward to drawing on JDE’s deep global expertise and building a highly successful partnership with them," Lee Siew Heng, group MD of OldTown, said.“The team at OldTown has built an impressive footprint of FMCG and F&B business across the Asia Pacific region under the leadership of Lee. The OldTown team is focused on delivering premium, high-quality products to consumers and we see huge potential in the business. We are excited to work with the OldTown team to rapidly grow the business as part of the broader JDE platform," Fabien Simon, CFO of JDE, said.