Green Mountain makes tender offer to buy outstanding shares of Diedrich for $290M in cash

Green Mountain makes tender offer for Diedrich

WATERBURY, Vt. — Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. said Friday it is making a tender offer to buy all the outstanding shares of Diedrich Coffee Inc. for about $290 million in cash.

That price amounts to about $35 per share.

The tender offer comes after Green Mountain said earlier in the month that it intended to buy Diedrich.

At the time, Green Mountain edged out Peet’s Coffee and Tea and paid a $8.5 million termination fee to Peet’s, which had agreed to buy Diedrich before Green Mountain stepped in.

Diedrich’s board has recommended to its shareholders that they tender their shares. The company expects to close the deal early in 2010.

The tender offer expires on Jan. 11, unless it is extended.

Shares of Green Mountain, based in Waterbury, Vt., rose $2, or 3 percent, to $65.47 on Friday.