ORRVILLE, Ohio — Jam- and-jelly maker J.M. Smucker is expected to reach an all- stock deal this week to acquire the Folgers coffee business from Procter & Gamble, The Wall Street Journal reported on its website Tuesday.
Folgers, which has been the nation’s No. 1 ground-coffee brand, could bring a price tag of $2 billion or more, according to The Journal. The newspaper cited unidentified people familiar with the matter in reporting the expected sale.
P&G spokesman Paul Fox would not discuss the report.
“We do not comment on rumor and speculation,” he said.
A message seeking comment was left after business hours at Smucker offices in Orrville.
Cincinnati-based P&G said last year it was reviewing its portfolio and taking a look at businesses at the lower end of annual sales-growth goals of 4 percent to 6 percent, prompting analysts to name Folgers as among those most likely to be sold.
The consumer-products company said in January it was seeking to separate Folgers into an independent company, a move that would allow P&G to avoid a big tax bill that would come with a sale.
Folgers has annual sales of $1.6 billion but has faced increased competition in recent years from Starbucks Corp. and other coffee-makers. The sale would nearly double the size of Smucker, which now has annual sales of about $2.5 billion and a market capitalization of about $3 billion.
Folgers dates to a 19th-century California family business and was acquired by P&G in 1963. The brand has been expanded with gourmet and other specialty lines.
Smucker also did a major deal with P&G in 2002 when it acquired Jif peanut butter and Crisco shortening in an all-stock deal valued at nearly $1 billion.
