Former Reckitt boss steers Douwe Egberts takeover

Bart Becht is chairman of German investment group Joh A Benckiser, which is buying DE Master Blenders in bid to create global hot drinks empire

Douwe Egberts coffee at a supermarket in Amsterdam. Photograph: Reuters

Bart Becht, the former Cillit Bang and Vanish boss who broke UK records for executive pay, is helping pilot a takeover of Dutch coffee company Douwe Egberts for €7.5bn (£6.4bn).

Becht is chairman of German family-controlled investment group Joh A Benckiser, which is buying DE Master Blenders 1753, the owners of Douwe Egberts and Pickwick tea.

DE, the world's third biggest coffee producer behind Nestle and Kraft, said on Friday it had reached conditional agreement on a €12.50 a share cash offer from a group of investors led by Benckiser.

Benckiser already owns around 15% of DE Master Blenders, meaning it will actually pay about €6.4bn. Becht will become chairman of the Dutch company.

Benckiser, the investment vehicle of the billionaire Reimann family, has been building a hot drinks business in an attempt to tap into strong growth from new products such as single-serve coffee machines as well as demand from emerging markets.

The bid, slightly lower than the €12.75 a share mentioned in an initial announcement of talks last month, represents a premium of 36% over the stock's average price in the three months before that announcement.

Becht said Benckiser would use DE as a vehicle for further acquisitions of coffee and tea consumer brands.

"Historically [DEMB] has been a somewhat sleepy organisation, but [interim chief executive] Jan Bennink and his team have done a good job to reinvigorate the business," he added.

Vienna-based Benckiser, owned by four siblings from the billionaire Reimann family, has holdings in consumer goods companies including fragrance company Coty and luxury brands Bally, Belstaff and Jimmy Choo. The Reimann fortune comes from the Benckiser chemicals company, founded in 1823.

Becht served as chief executive of one of the group's largest holdings, the health and hygiene company Reckitt Benckiser, before stepping down in 2011.

Becht's annual pay package at Reckitt reached £91m in 2009 – one of the worst years for the global economy in the post-war era – sparking a national debate on executive remuneration.

Market leader Nestlé's coffee sales had a retail value of $17.12bn last year, while Mondelez International ranked second at $8.32bn, according to Euromonitor International. DE Master Blenders ranks third with annual sales of about €2.66bn.

D.E Master Blenders, which also owns Senseo coffee, has had a rocky time since it was spun off last year from Sara Lee, which has since changed its name to Hillshire Brands.

Within weeks of its listing, it shocked investors with the news its Brazilian unit had been hit by fraud, tax and inventory problems, forcing it to restate past financial statements.

Previous CEO Michael Herkemij quit in December, just six months after the stock market debut, and in February the firm reported lower-than-expected profits and cut its outlook for 2013, citing pricing pressures in austerity-hit Europe.