J.M. Smucker completes purchase of Folgers Coffee

ORRVILLE, Ohio - Jams and jelly company J.M. Smucker Co. said Thursday its purchase of Folgers Coffee has been completed.

In June, Smucker said it would buy Folgers from Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble Co. in a stock transaction valued at $2.95 billion. Smucker also assumed about $350 million of Folgers' debt.

In conjunction with the deal, on October 31, Smucker paid a special dividend of $5 per share to all Smucker shareholders of record at the close of business on Sept. 30. The dividend was an effort to sweeten the Folgers deal for existing Smucker shareholders.

"We are very pleased with the completion of the Folgers transaction and believe that, as the number one retail packaged coffee brand in the United States, Folgers clearly aligns with our strategy to own and market number one food brands in North America," Executive Chairman and Co-Chief Chief Executive Richard Smucker said in a statement.

Shares of the company declined $1.50, or 3.6 percent, to $40.50.

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