De’ Longhi to Combine La Marzocco and Eversys Into a Global Coffee Equipment Hub

This is an English adaptation of a FoodBud historical article originally published on January 11, 2024.

Italian appliance and coffee-equipment group De’ Longhi SpA announced a major coffee-equipment deal: it would acquire a 41.2% stake in La Marzocco for $374 million from its parent company De’Longhi Industrial and other La Marzocco shareholders.

De’Longhi Industrial had previously acquired a 33.34% stake in La Marzocco in April 2021, increasing its holding to 62.6%.

Under the latest plan, De’ Longhi SpA expected to acquire more than 61% of La Marzocco in the first quarter of 2024. De’Longhi Industrial’s stake in La Marzocco would fall to 26.6%, while other minority shareholders would see their holdings reduced from 37.4% to 12%.

A Broader Coffee Equipment Platform

The transaction followed De’ Longhi SpA’s full acquisition in 2021 of Eversys, the Swiss super-automatic coffee machine company.

After completion, De’ Longhi, La Marzocco and Eversys were expected to form a global coffee equipment hub spanning home, commercial and super-automatic coffee machines. The three companies would establish an independent board reporting directly to De’ Longhi Group’s CEO.

At the same time, La Marzocco and Eversys would continue operating independently under their current management teams, with the stated aim of preserving each company’s culture while creating procurement, R&D, sales and distribution synergies.

Eversys and La Marzocco

Eversys was founded in Switzerland in 2009 and is known for fully automatic coffee machines designed for high quality, strong performance, and ease of operation and maintenance. De’ Longhi Group acquired a 40% stake in Eversys in 2017 and completed full ownership in March 2021.

La Marzocco, founded in Florence, Italy in 1927, is a high-end espresso machine manufacturer with nearly a century of coffee-equipment experience.

According to De’ Longhi Group, La Marzocco was expected to generate EUR 240 million, or $262 million, in revenue for fiscal 2023, while Eversys was expected to generate EUR 132 million, or $144 million. The two businesses together were expected to deliver adjusted EBITDA of about EUR 87 million, or roughly $95 million.

Industry observers said the combination could be significant for operators and channel partners because it may create cross-selling synergies. They also noted that Eversys already had strong capabilities in fully automatic coffee equipment; extending those capabilities into La Marzocco’s product portfolio could support further product development.

Note: acquisition timing, ownership percentages, revenue expectations and EBITDA figures are historical as reported in January 2024.