Green Mountain Buys Diedrich Coffee

WATERBURY, Vt. (AP) -- Coffee company Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. said Tuesday it agreed to acquire Diedrich Coffee Inc. for about $290 million, ending a monthlong battle to buy the specialty coffee producer.

Green Mountain will pay $35 per share for Diedrich. It also paid $8.5 million termination fee to Peet's Coffee and Tea, which had agreed to buy Diedrich before Green Mountain stepped in.

Green Mountain expects to pay for the deal through cash on hand and its existing bank lines of credit.

Peet's had offered a cash-and-stock offer of roughly $32.50 per share, or $269 million, but that expired Monday. After that, the company said it stood by its early November bid of $26 per share in cash and stock.

But Diedrich Coffee said Green Mountain's all-cash bid was superior to Peet's exchange offer.

The deal is expected to close in early 2010. Green Mountain expects it to be neutral to slightly beneficial to earnings during the first year, excluding one-time expenses, and add to earnings after that.