Acquisition of coffee pod and machine retailer follows global consolidation trend as Lavazza indicates Australia is a key market for its expansion strategy
Lavazza is seeking to bolster its presence in Australian retail and out-of-home coffee markets after buying a 100% stake coffee pod and machine distributor, The Blue Pod Coffee Co.
Founded in 2005, the Adelaide-based firm has exclusively distributed the Italian coffee company’s products in the Australian workplace sector for more than a decade.
Lavazza said in a press statement the acquisition was “perfectly aligned” with its global expansion strategy and would allow the firm to establish a “direct presence in all home and out-of-home coffee market segments.”
In addition to giving Lavazza deeper penetration into the Australian coffee market, Lavazza Group CEO, Antonio Baravalle, said the acquisition would “drive solid growth and value creation” at an international level.
Blue Pod Coffee Co. Sole Director, Silvio Zaccareo, said the deal, made for an undisclosed sum, demonstrated the “strategic importance” of Australia for Lavazza.
The acquisition marks Lavazza’s latest attempt to gain a strategic foot hold in an increasingly homogenised global coffee market dominated by Nestlé and JAB Holdings.
It mirrors similar moves by its rivals to build distribution networks in key markets after JAB’s $18.7bn Keurig-Dr Pepper in merger in the US in January 2018 and Nestlé’s $7.15bn ‘Global Coffee Alliance’ with Starbucks the following May.
In 2015 Lavazza acquired French coffee brand Carte Noir from Douwe Egberts, for a reported €800m. Two years later it acquired an 80% stake in Canadian specialty coffee firm, Kicking Horse. Blue Pod now joins L’Or, Merrild, Espresso Services and Alteco among Lavazza’s ranks.
The Italian coffee giant entered the Australian market more than 30 years ago, operating from its Melbourne-based associated company Lavazza Australia Pty Ltd.