JAB's Billionaire Backers Want to Create a Global Coffee Empire
- $13.9 billion bid for Keurig Green Mountain challenges Nestle
- BDT Capital's Byron Trott part of JAB's well-connected network
Keurig Brews $13.9 Billion Deal With JAB Holding
JAB Holding Co. wants to rule the coffee world. The closely held investment firm that manages the fortune of Austria’s billionaire Reimann family took another step toward that goal Monday by acquiring Keurig Green Mountain Inc. for almost $14 billion in the industry’s biggest-ever deal.
The Luxembourg-based group, known as JAB, has spent more than $30 billion in the past four years acquiring coffee companies in the U.S. and Europe to challenge global leader Nestle SA. Run by a trio of well-connected executives with decades of experience in food and beverage, JAB has bought assets including D.E Master Blenders 1753 NV, Mondelez International Inc.’s coffee unit and high-end chain Peet’s Coffee & Tea.