British American Tobacco to buy Polish e-cigarette company

Source from:  livechat.co.uk 09/23/2015

British American Tobacco has signed a conditional agreement to buy Polish e-cigarette company CHIC Group for an undisclosed sum.

The CHIC Group has 800 points of sale in Poland, a dedicated e-liquids production facility, a modern research and development centre and Polish e-cigarette brands including VOLISH, P1, Provog, Cottien, LiQueen and Aromativ.

BAT said the acquisition provides it with scale and market reach through Europe's largest e-cigarette retailing network, as well as important manufacturing and research and development capabilities.

In addition, British American said it has signed a vapour products technology-sharing term sheet with RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, which is a subsidiary of Reynolds American Inc. The term sheet provides a framework for collaboration and mutual cross-licensing of the parties' vapour product technologies up to 31 December 2022.

Kingsley Wheaton, managing director of Next Generation Products, said: "Today, we've announced two significant milestones to enhance our next generation product business globally, further enabling us to meet the demands of today's consumer."

At 1030 BST, BAT shares were down 1.5% at 3,506p. Enditem