Peet's Coffee Shareholders to Get a $1 Billion Payout

The noteworthy thing about the sale of Peet's Coffee to German conglomerate Joh. A. Benckiser is the large sale price: $1 billion for the company, which works out to 29 percent higher per share than its closing price on Friday. The deal, which Peet's board approved unanimously and which shareholders will have to vote on, would be a big payoff for shareholders in the Emeryville, California-based company, which had been on shaky ground financially. The transaction takes Peet's private, paying shareholders $73.50 for shares that closed at $57.16. The stock had been sliding, dropping 6 percent over the past year, The New York Times' Michael de la Merced reports. And, as The Wall Street Journal's Saabira Chaudhuri notes,"Analysts have said Peet's has a lack of pricing power at grocery stores as it already sells at a premium to other brands, even Starbucks Corp. products." If you didn't already own Peet's stock, however, it's too late to get in on this deal. The stock is currently trading at $73.78 so buying it now would just lose money.