TORONTO – Timothy’s Coffees of the World Inc. has been bought by two U.S. companies. Its wholesale coffee business was sold to Vermont-based Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. for $165 million, and the 139-location retail group was sold to Vermont-based Bruegger’s Enterprises Inc. for an undisclosed sum.
Timothy’s was previously owned by the Boca Raton, Fla.-based Sun Capital Partners Inc., a private-investment firm focused on leveraged buy-outs. Sun acquired Timothy’s in 2008 and both Green Mountain and Bruegger’s are portfolio companies of Sun.
“Timothy’s is a true growth and success story where revenues and profits were nearly doubled in 2009 over last year despite a challenging economic environment,” said M. Steven Liff, senior managing director of Sun Capital. Reps from Green Mountain and Bruegger’s expressed optimism about the move into Canada and the two acquisitions.
Bruegger’s operates 290 bakery-cafes in 24 States and the District of Columbia and is the second largest bakery-cafe operator in the United States. Green Mountain’s Specialty Coffee business produces coffee, tea and hot cocoa under brands like Tully’s Coffee, Green Mountain Coffee, Newman’s Own Organics coffee and Timothy’s World Coffee. Green Mountain’s Keurig division recently pioneered the manufacture of gourmet single-cup brewing systems. Timothy’s sells Keurig brewers and its own K-Cup coffee capsules in all of its stores, and it had recently entered into major agreements with hotel groups such as InterContinental Hotels and Resorts to provide its single-service gourmet coffee in hotel rooms. Financed by Sun Capital, Timothy’s expanded its coffee production facility during the past year to produce 250-million K-Cups per year.
