India's Tata Coffee Ltd said on Sunday it had agreed to buy US-based Eight O'Clock Coffee Company for $220 million from private equity firm Gryphon Investors.
Tata Coffee shares surged and hit its daily limit of 20 percent, ending at 325.65 rupees in a slightly higher Mumbai market during a special trading session on Sunday.
The deal will be financed through a combination of equity and non-recourse debt, the Indian plantation and coffee maker said in a statement. New Jersey-based Eight O'Clock Coffee, is a leading player with a 54 percent market share in the branded whole bean coffee market in the United States, with sales of $109 in calendar year 2005.
This is Tata Coffee's second major acquisition in the US, giving it further market share in the $21 billion coffee market. It acquired Good Earth, another US brand in October 2005. Other foreign companies in Tata Coffee's kitty include UK brand Tetley and Czech Republic's JEMCA.