Keurig to buy back its shares from Lavazza for $624 million

NEW YORK — Keurig said Monday it will pay about $624 million to buy back its shares owned by Italian coffee company Luigi Lavazza SpA.

Lavazza has been reducing its stake in Keurig to raise cash for deals with other companies.

Keurig, which sells single-serve coffee machine, said it will buy 5.23 million shares of its shares from Lavazza for $119.18 per share, a 3 percent discount from Keurig’s closing price of $122.87 on Friday.

The deal is expected to close by March 3. At that time, Lavazza’s stake in Keurig will drop to 3 percent from 6.1 percent.

Lavazza owned a 7.8 percent stake in Keurig as of Jan. 26, but has been steadily reducing its stake. It sold about 2 million shares between Jan. 26 and Feb. 3, and about 380,000 shares on Jan. 23, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.