Wessanen is announcing today its acquisition of UK-based tea and coffee company Clipper Teas Limited.
Clipper is based in Dorset, UK and has reported revenue of GBP 16 million in 2011, employing around 90 employees. The Clipper brand is market leader in UK organic and fair trade tea.
Clipper is a 100%-branded business which successfully stretches across the tea, coffee and hot chocolate range. It has its own factory in Beaminster (UK). Its products are sold across different channels such as grocery chains, health food stores, foodservice and, increasingly, export. It has a full range of teas including everyday, green, white, specialties and infusions. All products are free from any artificial ingredients and it includes an entire range of fair trade organic teas. Its instant and ground coffees are made with organic and fair trade Arabica beans and its hot and drinking chocolate are also all organic and fair trade.
From its foundation in 1984, Clipper has been focused on outstanding quality provenance and ethics - with a strap-line of being 'natural, fair and delicious'. Always innovative, it launched the very first fair trade tea back in 1994 and uses only natural unbleached teabags. The business was acquired from funds managed by FF&P Private Equity Limited.
Piet Hein Merckens (CEO) comments: "Clipper is a very welcome addition to the Wessanen brand portfolio, and its products are predominately in tea, one of our core categories. Its position as the UK's favourite organic and fair trade tea brand, as well as its clear potential in other markets across Europe, means that it will enable us to further build towards our ambition of having the most desired organic brands in Europe. We very much admire what the team at Clipper have achieved and want to build on this, investing in the brand, blending and manufacturing capability."
Clipper will be integrated into the UK businesses of Wessanen, which currently includes Kallo Foods Ltd, which has natural and organic brands including Kallo and Whole Earth. For more information on Clipper please visit www.clipper-teas.com (http://www.clipper-teas.com).
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For more information
Carl Hoyer (VP Corporate Communications)
Phone +31 (0)20 3122 140 / +31 (0)6 123 556 58
Email carl.hoyer@wessanen.com / investor.relations@wessanen.com (mailto:investor.relations@wessanen.com)
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Source: Royal Wessanen nv via Thomson Reuters ONE
