NORTH AMERICA 28th September 2010

Waterbury, Vermont-based Green Mountain Coffee Roasters in mid-September announced that it was to acquire Montréal's Van Houtte, a major Canadian roaster, retailer and office coffee supplier, according to a report in The Globe and Mail.

The C$915m (€660m) deal will see Green Mountain move further into the Canadian market, the report said, as well as cementing its relationship with Van Houtte, which is already a licensee of Green Mountain's Keurig single cup system.

Van Houtte sells coffee machines and supplies coffee to about 6,000 workplaces in Canada and the US, according to the report. The Montréal-based company goes back to 1919, with the coffee roasting business an offshoot of speciality grocery store that began trading in that year.

Green Mountain last year bought one of Canada's leading roaster/retail chains, Timothy's World Coffee, based in Toronto.