FDBusiness.com

Agribusiness group Olam International, which operates in 70 countries, has acquired East African coffee specialist Schluter at an enterprise value of US$7.5 million. Established since 1858, Schluter is an independent coffee company which specialises in trading East African specialty and premium Arabica coffees. A founding member of the Specialty Coffee Association in Europe, Schluter is based in Switzerland with marketing offices in Nyon and Liverpool in the UK, and operates milling facilities in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi. It runs farmer support programmes funded by European development agencies, which involve six nurseries and 1,800 farmers who are certified suppliers of organic coffees.

With the acquisition, Schluter will become the specialty arm of Olam Coffee in Europe.

Vivek Verma, Managing Director and CEO of Olam Coffee, says: “Schluter’s name has been synonymous with fine coffees out of East Africa for generations. Their team in Europe will complement Olam’s marketing efforts and further strengthen our reach and relationships with our roaster clients. Schluter is clearly a strong fit into our strategy for three key reasons – our entry into the European specialty coffee market will complement our expanding speciality coffee presence in the US; Schluter will also deepen our origination expertise in East Africa; and their focus on building sustainable supply chains with smallholders is strongly aligned to our core purpose of Growing Responsibly and our pursuit of the Olam Livelihood Charter.”