Breville brews up $168m Italian deal
BREVILLE Group, the kitchen appliances company famous for its juicers and toasters, is expanding its reach into upmarket coffee machines after agreeing to buy Italy’s LELIT for €113m ($A168.4m).
Breville chief executive Jim Clayton said the deal brought together the two great coffee cultures of the world: Italy and Australia.
“Both companies have a shared passion for using product innovation to improve our customers’ coffee experience at home, and we look forward to working alongside LELIT and its existing partners to furwho
ther accelerate its growth and product innovation, while preserving the values that underpin its Italian identity,” he said.
LELIT coffee machines can sell for as much as $5000, and have state-of-the-art technology and machinery that can be used by professional baristas but also people at home desire a coffee made on a commercial device.
Breville already has an existing coffee machine business along with its portfolio of other kitchen appliances.
ASX-listed Breville said half of the LELIT deal would be paid in cash and half by the issue of fully paid ordinary shares in Breville priced at $27.64 apiece, which will be subject to a five-year trading lock post completion.
Breville shares closed 2.7 per cent, or 74c, lower at $26.24 on Friday.
The transaction is expected to complete by early July 2022 following a pre-acquisition restructure of the Italian company. LELIT chief executive
Emanuele Epis said Breville was the ideal strategic partner to support the company in its next stage of growth.
It also enabled LELIT to remain faithful to its Italian heritage and design.
“We look forward to leveraging Breville’s global platforms, capabilities and infrastructure to further strengthen our success on a global scale,” he said.
Last month Breville – which counts billionaire Solomon Lew’s retail business Premier Investments as its biggest shareholder with a stake of just under 26 per cent – booked a 25 per cent jump in interim profit to $77.7m as sales rose about 24 per cent to $878.7m.