Mars will buy Hotel Chocolat in a staggering £534 million cash deal to boost the luxury British chocolate brand’s expansion abroad.
Hotel Chocolat co-founders Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris will each receive £144 million after agreeing to sell the company to Mars.
The move will help Hotel Chocolat, which has 130 stores in the UK and a presence in Japan, to ‘grow further and faster’ after it said operational challenges in its supply chain had ‘held us back’ from international growth.
The acquisition by Mars Inc – which also owns the food brands Celebrations, Dove, M&Ms and Snickers – led to Hotel Chocolate Stocks rose 161 percent in response.
Mars said it would pay 375p per share – a huge 170 per cent premium on Hotel Chocolat’s closing price of 139p last night.
Acquisition: Mars has announced it will buy Hotel Chocolat in a £534 million deal to help the British luxury chocolate brand expand its sales abroad
Hotel Chocolat is named after the luxury hotel on Saint Lucian’s cocoa estate, which overlooks a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the island’s iconic Petit Piton Mountain.
Chief executive Angus Thirlwell said: ‘Hotel Chocolat’s destiny is to become a leading premium chocolate brand in key markets by reinventing chocolate for people and nature.
‘In Mars we have found a real meeting of minds – in strong cultural values, bold strategy and real long-term thinking.
‘Our Gentle Farming program is off to a promising start and we truly believe it can help make cocoa farming fit for nature and for people. Joining forces with Mars to achieve greater positive impact has enormous appeal for us.
“We know our brand resonates with consumers abroad, but challenges in the operational supply chain have held us back. By working with Mars, we can grow our international presence much faster by leveraging their skills, expertise and capabilities.”
Responsible: Angus Thirlwell, CEO of Hotel Chocolat, founded the brand 20 years ago with the aim of bringing ethical and affordable luxury chocolate to the British high street
Shops: There are 130 shops across the UK, and Hotel Chocolat also has a presence in Japan
Share price: A graph showing Hotel Chocolat’s share price over the past year
The owner founded the brand twenty years ago with the aim of bringing ethical and affordable luxury chocolate to the British high street.
Mr Thirlwell, the real-life British Willy Wonka, previously told the Mail he set up the store after leaving a career in computers.
‘I met co-founder Peter Harris at a computer company in Cambridge. Computing is so complicated, we talked about doing something simpler,” he said.
‘We started selling peppermint; it was the most niche product ever. After a while, customers wanted a range of products, so we started looking into chocolate.’
The entrepreneurial family is no stranger to running their own business selling sweet treats.
His father, Edwin Thirwell, co-founded Mr Whippy before selling it and moving the family to Barbados.
It was while living in the Caribbean that he first became interested in the chocolate making process.
Mr Thirwell said: ‘In Barbados all the chocolate was American and I wasn’t too keen on it.
“Instead, we drank chocolate tea, a healthier, simpler version of hot chocolate that you make by boiling ground cocoa beans and adding milk and sugar.”
The co-founders of Hotel Chocolat will each receive around £140 million after agreeing to sell the company to Mars.
Hotel Chocolat is making a loss after last year’s major restructuring, which reduced costs.
In January, the country agreed to a new partnership in Japan, following the costly collapse of a previous joint venture in the country.