Japan Tobacco Inc. said today that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Logic Technology Development, one of the leading US electronic cigarette ‘brands’.
JT described Logic, which was founded in 2010, as selling a full range of high-quality rechargeable, ready-to-use and disposable electronic cigarettes, including the Logic Pro tank system, newly launched this month.
“With the Logic brand and its strong portfolio of products, the JT group has a sizeable participation in the largest and fast-growing US e-cigarette market,” said Masamichi Terabatake, Japan Tobacco International’s executive vice president and deputy CEO. “Logic’s well established presence in the US, in addition to our acquisition of E-Lites in the UK, further underpins our global ambitions to become the leader in emerging products.”
JT said that the executive management team of Logic would remain with the JT group post-acquisition in order that the group could benefit from the team’s extensive knowledge and experience of the US electronic cigarette market.
“With the backing of JT group’s global resources, we believe Logic is uniquely positioned to accelerate its growth in the US market and further enhance its product offering.” said Eli Alelov, Logic’s co-founder and CEO.
“We are excited about the transaction and look forward to the next phase of Logic`s development with the JT group,” added Howard Panes, Logic`s co-founder.
The transaction will be funded by the group’s existing cash and loan facilities, with an expected minor effect on the group’s consolidated performance for the fiscal year 2015.
JT expects to complete the acquisition in the third quarter of fiscal year 2015 following regulatory clearance.