Orange, the royal color, is everywhere. Houses are covered in bunting and flags. Shop windows are stuffed with orange cakes, sweets, clothes and flowers.

April 30, or Queen’s day, is always a day for partying in the Netherlands. But this year the city of Amsterdam is putting on a special show to celebrate the investiture of the 46-year-old King and the abdication of his 75-year-old mother who wants to retire after 33 years in the job.

Nearly a million are expected to join the street party with dancing to bands and DJs helping create a carnival atmosphere. As always, there will be people on the pavements setting up traditional makeshift bric-a-brac stalls.

Britain’s Prince Charles and Japan’s Crown Princess Masako, who is making her first foreign trip since falling ill a decade ago will be among 2,000 visitors at the official ceremony.

“There will be tears on Tuesday,” said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, paying tribute to “this formidable lady who has ruled this country for over 30 years”.

On her last evening as Queen, Beatrix will hold a banquet in the newly renovated Rijksmuseum. The next morning at 10:00 a.m. (0800 GMT) she will sign her abdication, whereupon Willem-Alexander immediately becomes King and his wife Maxima, a popular former investment banker from Argentina, becomes Queen.

All three will then appear on the palace balcony to wave and address the crowds in Dam Square.

They will then head from the palace to the 600-year-old Nieuwe Kerk, or New Church, next door where the King will swear an oath to uphold the Dutch constitution before lawmakers.

The celebration will continue through the evening with a water pageant along the Ij, Amsterdam’s historic waterfront.

PRINCE PILS

Queen Beatrix, known for her sculpted hair and big hats, has been a fixture of Dutch life during her reign.

But she has also played an active part in politics, making known her views on the environment and her dislike of the anti-Islam, anti-immigrant agenda of populist politician Geert Wilders.

At her weekly audiences with her prime ministers, the Queen poured the tea or coffee herself while discussing politics. She had real influence, mixing with captains of industry and political movers and shakers, and appointing the mediator who conducts exploratory talks when forming government coalitions.

But the Dutch monarch was officially stripped of that role last year by parliament, and Willem-Alexander, who said he prefers to be addressed by his first name rather than “Your Majesty”, will be a less formal head of state.

Known as “Prince Pils”, a reference to Pilsner beer, in his youth because of his hard-partying lifestyle, Willem-Alexander is a water management specialist, a useful expertise in a country much of which lies below sea level.

His marriage to Maxima in 2002 was controversial because her father, Jorge Zorreguieta, served in Argentina’s military dictatorship more than 30 years ago.

But Maxima quickly endeared herself to the Dutch and a poll showed she is now as popular as the queen and even more popular than her husband. The same Ipsos poll found that 78 percent of Dutch are in favor of the monarchy, up from 74 percent a year ago.

ECONOMIC UPLIFT

The abdication and investiture have provided an excuse to celebrate at a time when the economy is in the doldrums, as plummeting house prices, rising unemployment and slumping consumer confidence have pushed the country into recession.

“It will certainly strengthen our sense of nationhood,” said Rutte, adding that he hoped the uplift to the national mood would have a beneficial impact on the economy as well.

At a time of austerity and billions of euros of budget cuts, the government promised to keep the cost of the pageantry down.

Republicans have said the monarch should accept a lower salary and pay taxes, and a petition calling for Willem-Alexander’s salary to be cut to 150,000 euros, down from his mother’s 850,000 euros, has collected several thousand signatures.

This week’s ceremonies will cost about 12 million euros, but that excludes the bill for the extensive security measures.

Just two weeks after a bomb exploded at the finish line of the Boston marathon, authorities are taking precautions ahead of one of the largest public gatherings ever in the Netherlands, bringing in sniffer dogs from Germany and putting more than 10,000 police on the streets.

Rutte said there would be “an unprecedented logistical and security operation.”

Demonstrators who oppose the monarchy plan to dress in white, in contrast to the orange color of staunch monarchists. And catering to all views, dissenters will have half a dozen sites made available where they can stage their protests, far from Dam Square.

(Editing by Anna Willard)

The Dutch electronics company reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings, but weak sales underscored the challenges it faces as it restructures to cope with stagnant economic growth, fragile consumer spending and government budget cuts in several markets.

Shares in Philips, the world’s biggest lighting maker and a top-three maker of hospital equipment, fell to their lowest level since January, down 3.9 percent by 1250 GMT against a broadly higher European blue chip market.

“The biggest concern in the market is healthcare,” said Daniel Cunliffe, analyst at Nomura. “Put very simply, healthcare is the biggest division, and the biggest margin-driver, so the issue is will healthcare recover in the U.S.”

Chief Executive Frans van Houten, who has driven Philips’ restructuring over the past two years, said the outlook for healthcare is particularly tough in the United States, where executives in the sector are cautious about spending plans ahead of the implementation of planned healthcare reforms.

Healthcare equipment orders fell 5 percent on a comparable currency basis, with a double-digit decline in North America and a high-single-digit decline in western Europe, where several economies are in crisis.

President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, which takes full effect in 2014, aims to extend insurance cover to over 30 million Americans, but requires insurance companies to bear costs including preventive health services and also introduces a new tax on medical devices.

In the past week, medical testing companies such as Quest Diagnostics and device makers Johnson & Johnson and Abbott Laboratories have cited a slowdown in use of medical services in the run-up to the reform’s implementation.

MODEST SALES

Fabian Smeets, analyst at ING, said that while Philips’ net result was above consensus, investors were concerned by the weak first-half outlook and modest sales growth of 4 percent in emerging markets, considered the main driver for the group’s growth after its overhaul.

Philips has sold off much of its consumer electronics business – including its television, audio, and video operations – in a drive to improve profitability.

The company said it was on track to achieve its end-2013 targets of sales growth of between 4 and 6 percent, a margin on EBITA (earnings before interest, tax and amortization) of 10 to 12 percent and a return on invested capital of 12 to 14 percent.

Van Houten said he would update investors on his new financial targets and strategy for coming years on September 17.

Some analysts expect Philips to shift away from share buybacks and to return more cash to its investors through higher dividends or special dividends in future.

“We are not a serial share buyback company,” van Houten told reporters on a conference call, adding Philips will complete its 2 billion euro ($2.6 billion) buyback in the second quarter.

The company reported first-quarter net profit of 162 million euros ($211.9 million), down from 183 million a year ago when its results were lifted by a net gain of 119 million euros from the divestment of its stake in the Senseo coffee brand and the sale of its office campus in the Netherlands.

Quarterly EBITA improved in all three businesses, once year-ago one-off gains and other charges were excluded.

Sales rose 1 percent on a comparable basis to 5.26 billion euros. Analysts in a poll commissioned by Reuters had forecast net profit of 153 million euros on sales of 5.41 billion.

($1 = 0.7644 euros)

(Editing by David Holmes and Louise Heavens)

Fearing that major cuts to orders could ultimately doom the
delayed and over-budget $400 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
project, U.S. officials have been stepping up pressure on buyers
to stick to their initial undertakings.

The Dutch government is expected to scale back its order of
85 planes to between 52 and 68, according to people close to the
discussions. Purchase plans are due to be finalised this year.

U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General Christopher Bogdan, the
head of the Pentagon’s F-35 programme, told the Dutch
parliamentary defence commission it was best for the Netherlands
to stick to the original plan.

“If you take airplanes out of the production line today,
that will have a great impact on the price of the airplane,” he
told the commission in The Hague.

But he said the timing of any cancellations was also
critical and there would be “very, very little impact” on price
if orders dropped were from 2022 to 2024 rather than earlier.

The F-35 programme, hit by technical faults, is seven years
behind schedule and 70 percent above cost estimates.

U.S. officials fear any cancellations could force up prices
for remaining buyers, meaning they are more likely to cancel
too.

The Dutch coalition government which took office in November
is concerned at the cost of the planes, to replace older F-16
fighters, and is still shaping its defence strategy.

Built by Lockheed Martin Corp, the F-35 is designed
to be the next-generation fighter for decades to come for U.S.
forces and their allies.

Some Dutch politicians question whether to go for an
alternative such as Saab AB’s Gripen, Boeing Co’s
F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet, or the EADS
Eurofighter.

A Lockheed Martin official addressed the Dutch defence
commission on Wednesday and rivals are also going to make their
case.

In new estimates that will be scrutinized by arms firms
worldwide, Bogdan said the warplane would cost $85 million in
2020 and the F-35A air force version would cost $23,900 per hour
to fly compared with $21,500 for the older F-16s.

Washington itself has delayed 410 of its 2,443 orders for
F-35s beyond 2017.

Wennink, a 55-year-old Dutchman who has been chief financial officer since 1999, will succeed Eric Meurice, a 56-year-old Frenchman and former Dell Computer executive, as CEO in July. Meurice will become chairman and advisor to the new management.

In the past year, Meurice and Wennink have pulled off two significant deals that brought funding and expertise for ASML’s research and development of the next generation of equipment.

“We have a clear roadmap of what to do. We’re not going to make significant changes to the strategy and the roadmap of the company,” Wennink said in a video interview coinciding with the release of better-than-expected quarterly results on Wednesday.

ASML, considered a barometer for the tech sector, forecast a recovery in sales to around $1.44 billion as demand for hot consumer gadgets, such as smartphones and tablet computers, grows at the expense of heavier laptop computers.

As expected, ASML also announced a new share buy-back program of up to 1 billion euros, equivalent to about 5 percent of its stock market value.

Shares in the company, which competes with Japanese groups Canon (7751.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Nikon (7731.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), surged as much as 9 percent to the highest level since early March.

CONTINUITY

The appointment of Wennink as CEO was expected, analysts said, and showed the firm would continue to focus on its existing strategy and deliver strong returns to investors.

“This was the most likely scenario,” said Pierre Ferragu, analyst at Bernstein Research.

“He (Wennink) has helped put them in the position they are in today. He has helped design a company that controls costs extremely well and outspent competitors on R&D as a result. This makes me confident investors will share in the benefits of strong returns going forward.”

The quest to produce ever smaller, more efficient, more powerful chips pushed ASML into two deals last year.

It agreed to buy Cymer Inc (CYMI.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), a supplier of lithography light sources used to make chips, in order to speed up the development of a new manufacturing technique which uses EUV, or extreme ultraviolet light, to produce smaller chips.

It also won funding from three big customers – Intel Corp (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (2330.TW: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Samsung Electronics 00593.KS – for the research and development of EUV technology and of equipment for making larger wafers.

The production of wafers with a 450 mm diameter, compared with 300 mm now, allows more chips per wafer to be cut and will help reduce costs by as much as 30-40 percent.

Fast-tracking the development of such technology not only cements ASML’s position as the market leader ahead of Nikon, but is also expected to significantly reduce production costs.

ASML reported better-than-expected first-quarter net profit of 96 million euros on sales of 892 billion euros, but the quarterly revenue figure was the lowest in three years.

Personal computer sales plunged 14 percent in the first three months of the year, the biggest decline in two decades of keeping records, as tablets continue to gain in popularity.

IT research firm Gartner, Inc said earlier this month it expects worldwide shipments of personal computers, tablets and mobile phones to rise 9 percent this year as strong growth in smartphones and tablet devices more than offsets an expected decline in PCs.

(Reporting by Sara Webb; Editing by Louise Heavens)

D.E Master Blenders 1753 (DEMB.AS: Quote, Profile, Research), the Dutch owner of Douwe Egberts coffee and Pickwick tea, said on Friday it had reached conditional agreement on a 12.50 euros per share cash takeover offer from a group of investors led by JAB.

JAB, the investment vehicle of the billionaire Reimann family, has been building a hot drinks business in a bid to tap strong growth driven by new products, such as single-serve coffee brewers, and demand from emerging markets.

It owns Caribou Coffee Co Inc JABECC.UL and Peet’s Coffee & Tea Inc PEETC.UL in the United States, and has had its eye on D.E Master Blenders, which has a strong position in Europe, for some time.

The offer is below an original proposal from JAB of 12.75 euros per share. But this still represents a 36 percent premium to D.E. Master Blenders’ average closing share price in the three months before the proposal was disclosed.

Analysts said the price compared favourably with recent similar deals and saw little chance of a rival bid, not least because JAB already owns around 15 percent of D.E Master Blenders, meaning it will actually pay about 6.4 billion euros.

Chief Executive Jan Bennink, who will step down after the takeover, said D.E Master Blenders had not had contacts with other potential buyers.

“We consider the probability of a higher offer to be slim,” KBC Securities analysts Pascale Weber and Jan-Willem Billiet said in a note, recommending investors accept the offer.

They said the price represented a ratio of enterprise value (debt plus equity) to forecast earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for 2014 of 15.7 times.

In comparison, analysts have pointed to a deal to buy H.J. Heinz Co (HNZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research) by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and 3G Capital at a 2013 EV/EBITDA of 14.6 times.

D.E Master Blenders’ stock closed down 0.98 percent at 12.11 euros.

FROM BEER TO BEANS

Becht, a former chief executive of Reckitt Benckiser (RB.L: Quote, Profile, Research) who will become chairman of the Dutch company, said D.E Master Blenders would provide a platform for organic growth and for acquisitions in the coffee and tea sectors.

JAB’s partners in the deal include investors and executives with strong connections to Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI.BR: Quote, Profile, Research), the leading global brewer and SABMiller plc (SAB.L: Quote, Profile, Research), the world’s second-largest beer company.

Peter Harf, former chairman of AB InBev, Olivier Goudet, a director of InBev, and Alejandro Santo Domingo, a director of SABMiller, will join D.E Master Blenders’ board.

“They see a lot of similarities between the coffee and beer industries, for example in terms of production, marketing and branding,” said a person familiar with the deal.

“They want to consolidate and build the brands.”

But Becht said: “These people made a lot of money in beer and they are looking to diversify their portfolios. That’s the principle reason why we’ve been talking to them.”

He told reporters there were no plans to combine the Dutch firm with JAB’s coffee businesses in the United States, citing a lack of synergies.

FAMILY FORTUNES

The Reimann fortune comes from the Benckiser chemicals company, founded in 1823. The family also controls perfumes and cosmetics group Coty COTY.UL, and owns Labelux Group, manager of luxury brands Bally, Belstaff and Jimmy Choo.

Douwe Egberts coffee is one of the best-known brands in the Netherlands and its parent company, D.E Master Blenders, ranks third in terms of coffee sales after market leader Nestle and Mondelez International, according to Euromonitor International.

But the Dutch firm, which also owns Senseo coffee, has had a rocky time since it was spun off last year from Sara Lee Corp, which has since changed its name to Hillshire Brands (HSH.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

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.

JAB said it would finance the deal through a combination of roughly 3 billion euros of debt and about 4.9 billion euros in equity, and said it had committed financing from arrangers Bank of America, Citibank, Rabobank and Morgan Stanley. The deal is conditional on issues including regulatory approval.

Leonardo & Co., BDT & Company, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Rabobank/Rothschild are financial advisers to JAB. Lazard is lead financial adviser to D.E Master Blenders, with Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan also acting as financial advisers.

(Additional reporting by Gilbert Kreijger, Anjuli Davies, and Anthony Deutsch; editing by Mark Potter and Jane Merriman)

D.E Master Blenders 1753, the Dutch owner of Douwe
Egberts coffee and Pickwick tea, said on Friday it had reached
conditional agreement on a 12.50 euros per share cash takeover
offer from a group of investors led by JAB.

JAB, the investment vehicle of the billionaire Reimann
family, has been building a hot drinks business in a bid to tap
strong growth driven by new products, such as single-serve
coffee brewers, and demand from emerging markets.

Its brands include Caribou Coffee Co Inc and
Peet’s Coffee & Tea Inc in the United States, while
D.E Master Blenders will give it a strong position in Europe.

The offer is below JAB’s original proposal of 12.75 euros
per share, but still represents a 36 percent premium to D.E.
Master Blenders’ average closing share price in the three months
to March 27, when the initial proposal was disclosed.

Analysts said the price compared favourably with recent
similar deals and saw little chance of a rival bid, not least
because JAB already owns around 15 percent of D.E Master
Blenders, meaning it will actually pay about 6.4 billion euros.

“We consider the probability of a higher offer to be slim,”
said KBC Securities analysts Pascale Weber and Jan-Willem
Billiet in a note, recommending investors accept the offer.

They said the price represented a ratio of enterprise value
(debt plus equity) to forecast earnings before interest, tax,
depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for 2014 of 15.7 times.

By comparison, analysts have pointed to the recent takeover
of Heinz, which was done at a 2013 EV/EBITDA of 14.6 times.

D.E Master Blenders declined to specify why the offer price
had been reduced from the initial proposal and chief executive
Jan Bennink, who will step down after the takeover, said it had
not had contacts with other potential buyers.

At 0940 GMT, its stock was down 0.4 percent at 12.18 euros.

PLATFORM FOR GROWTH

“JAB and its partners intend to use DEMB as their platform
for both organic growth as well as acquisitions in the
fast-moving consumer goods coffee and tea categories,” said JAB
Chairman Bart Becht, a former chief executive of Reckitt
Benckiser who will become chairman of the Dutch company.

The Reimann fortune comes from the Benckiser chemicals
company, founded in 1823. The family also controls fashion group
Coty, and owns Labelux Group, manager of luxury brands
Bally, Belstaff and Jimmy Choo.

Becht told reporters there were no plans to combine the
Dutch firm with JAB’s coffee businesses in the United States,
citing a lack of synergies.

D.E Master Blenders, which also owns Senseo coffee, has had
a rocky time since it was spun off last year from Sara Lee Corp,
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.

Market leader Nestle’s coffee sales had a retail value of
$17.12 billion last year, while Mondelez International ranked
second at $8.32 billion, according to Euromonitor International.

D.E Master Blenders ranks third with annual sales of about
2.66 billion euros.

JAB said it would finance the deal through a combination of
roughly 3 billion euros of debt and about 4.9 billion euro in
equity, and said it has committed financing from arrangers Bank
of America, Citibank, Rabobank and Morgan Stanley. The deal is
conditional on issues including regulatory approval.

Leonardo & Co., BDT & Company, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
and Rabobank/Rothschild are financial advisers to JAB. Lazard is
lead financial adviser to D.E Master Blenders, with Goldman
Sachs and JP Morgan also acting as financial advisers.

JAB, the investment vehicle of the billionaire Reimann
family, wants to create a global coffee brand on a par with
global leader Nestle SA, bolstering its position in a
hot sector driven by new products and the growing middle classes
in many emerging markets.

It has already built up a portfolio of coffee brands
including Caribou Coffee Co Inc and Peet’s Coffee &
Tea Inc in the United States, and wants to buy D.E
Master Blenders, which has a strong position in Europe, to
create a global coffee empire.

JAB could make its offer of around 12.75 euros per share
before the weekend, the source said.

Neither JAB nor D.E Master Blenders was immediately
reachable for comment.

D.E Master Blenders said on March 28 it was in talks with
JAB – already its biggest shareholder with a stake of over 15
percent – about a 12.75-euro-per-share offer.

That price represented a premium of nearly 33 percent to the
shares’ prior close, and the news pushed the stock to a high of
12.60 euros.

Analysts have said they do not expect JAB to sweeten its
offer. On Thursday, D.E Master Blenders’ shares closed up 0.91
percent at 12.23 euros.

ROCKY START

Market leader Nestle’s coffee sales had a retail value of
$17.12 billion last year, while Mondelez International ranked
second at $8.32 billion, according to Euromonitor International.

D.E Master Blenders, which also owns Senseo coffee and
Pickwick Tea, ranks third with annual sales of about 2.66
billion euros.

The Dutch coffee and tea company had a rocky start since it
was spun off last year from Sara Lee Corp, which has since
changed its name to Hillshire Brands.

Within weeks of its listing on the Amsterdam stock exchange,
it shocked investors with the news that its Brazilian business
had been hit by fraud, tax and inventory issues, forcing it to
restate past financial statements.

Its chief executive, Michael Herkemij, quit in December just
six months after the stock market debut, and was replaced by Jan
Bennink. And in February, the firm reported lower-than-expected
profits and cut its outlook for 2013 citing pricing pressures in
Europe.
($1 = 0.7618 euros)

(Additional reporting by Martinne Geller; Editing by Gary Hill,
Tim Dobbyn and Bernard Orr)

Eelco Blok said KPN needed to see the market’s reaction to
its first-quarter results first but might then publish its
prospectus for the rights issue.

“It is possible,” Blok told Reuters. “But of course we need
to see the reaction of the share price to the Q1 results. We
have the possibility. You never know what can happen.”

Analysts expect the company to report earnings before
interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the first
quarter of 971 million euros, according to Thomson Reuters
StarMine SmartEstimates, down from 1.1 billion euros in the same
period a year ago.

As expected, shareholders approved KPN’s planned capital
hike at its annual meeting on Wednesday, giving it until June 30
to launch the rights issue, which is intended to reduce debt.

KPN has already raised 2 billion euros from the sale of
hybrid bonds.

Shareholders on Wednesday also voted in favour of the
appointment to KPN’s supervisory board of two executives from
America Movil – Chief Financial Officer Carlos Garcia Moreno and
Chief Operating Officer Oscar von Hauske.

But KPN’s management came in for sharp criticism from
shareholders, both retail and institutional, over the firm’s
poor performance and the handling of the Mexican giant’s tender
offer last year.

Moreno told Reuters the Mexican firm and KPN have already
discussed ways to work together in areas such as procurement
because they share several vendors, and reiterated that America
Movil’s interest in KPN was strategic.

“We have very long-term objectives,” he said: “Europe is
going to recover.”

America Movil is sitting on a substantial paper loss on its
investment in KPN as the shares which it bought in its tender
offer at 8 euros hit a low of 2.5 euros on March 1. On Wednesday
the share price closed up 5.25 percent at 2.8 euros.

America Movil’s share price has also been hard hit, and
Garcia Moreno told Reuters the company had a policy of buying
back shares in response to declines in the price.

But asked whether the group would consider selling assets in
response to new telecoms rules in Mexico, he said it was “too
early” to comment.

Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto, who took office in
December, has said he wants to increase competition in the
telecoms market and has presented a plan for sweeping reforms
which has been backed by Mexico’s lower house and is now before
the Senate.

Rembrandt van Rijn’s “The Night Watch” will be the only work
still hanging in the same place when Queen Beatrix officially
opens the Rijksmuseum on April 13 after a 375 million euro
($482.02 million) renovation to a treasure trove of Dutch art.

“We’ve had a complete transformation, everything is new,”
General Director Wim Pijbes said at a press preview on Thursday.
“The only thing that hasn’t changed is the place of ‘The Night
Watch’.”

Rembrandt’s large masterpiece shows Amsterdam’s civic guard
setting off on a march and is approached along a “hall of fame”
hung with works such as Johannes Vermeer’s “Woman Reading a
Letter”, and “The Merry Drinker” by Frans Hals, as well as
opulent displays of fruit and flowers.

The opening will be one of the queen’s last official duties
before she abdicates, showing off the country’s art, its rich
history as a naval power and society of merchants.

Many of the prize pieces in the collection of 8,000 works
are now displayed in broader context, with related paintings,
furniture, silver and ceramics arranged in close proximity to
each other as part of the museum’s new layout.

Rembrandt’s portraits of a wealthy lady in a delicate lace
ruff and a man wearing an exotic turban hang close to a portrait
of Rembrandt by his friend, the artist Jan Lievens, with whom he
shared a studio.

Nearby are works by another friend the silversmith Johannes
Lutma and an oak cupboard inlaid with ebony and mother-of-pearl
by Herman Doomer, whose work Rembrandt admired and whose
portrait he painted.

“The 10-year renovation project gave us the opportunity to
entirely reinvent our collection,” Director of Collections Taco
Dibbits said.

“You create the world in which they lived and give a feeling
of the times.”

Likewise, a room devoted to the country’s history as a naval
power contains an enormous model of the Dutch warship “Willem
Rex” and a trophy of war – the stern carving from King Charles
II of England’s flagship “Royal Charles” which was captured by
Dutch forces in 1667.

The ship was towed to the Netherlands where it was scrapped
apart from its carving of a lion and unicorn. Nearby is an ink
on canvas picture of The Battle of Terheide by Willem van de
Velde. The artist, an early war painter, even includes himself
in the work, shown sketching aboard a ship in the foreground.

The building itself has also had an extensive renovation.

Designed by Dutch architect Pierre Cuypers, a Catholic, the
museum opened to the public in 1885 but was deemed too showy by
Protestant critics. So gradually, many of the interior
decorations, from murals to mosaics, were covered up or removed.
Those have now been restored.

“Cuypers’s building was not well-received by the Protestants
of Amsterdam because it looked like a cathedral, so they slowly
covered up part of it,” said Antonio Ortiz, one of the
architects who worked on the renovation.

“It was dark, dim, sad, a labyrinth. We have brought the
building as close as possible to its original splendour.”

The museum hopes the overhaul will help catapult it up the
rankings for visitors, and attract as many as 2 million visitors
a year, up from about 1.2 million just before the renovation
work started.

That’s a far cry from the 10 million people who visit the
Louvre in Paris each year.
($1 = 0.7780 euros)

(Reporting by Sara Webb, editing by Paul Casciato)

The maker of Douwe Egberts coffee and Pickwick tea said it
had agreed to open its books to JAB based on JAB’s proposal to
pay 12.75 euros for every share it does not already own. That
represents a nearly 33 percent premium to the shares’ prior
closing price and values the entire company at around $9.7
billion.

The company noted that talks were at an early stage and
there was no guarantee of a deal. Its shares closed at 12.05
euros in Amsterdam. Before this, the stock had moved little
since last year’s spin-off from Sara Lee.

JAB, the investment vehicle of the billionaire Reimann
family, is already D.E’s top shareholder. Taking over the
company would further cement JAB’s standing as a powerhouse in a
hot drinks industry benefiting from innovation and emerging
market growth.

JAB has been building a portfolio of brands including
Caribou Coffee Co Inc and Peet’s Coffee & Tea Inc
, taking advantage of growth in a category being
fueled by new products like single-serve coffee brewers and
demand from emerging middle classes in developing markets.

“We would envisage a very high chance of a transaction
here,” said research firm Olivetree in a note, noting that JAB
already owned at least 15 percent of D.E Master Blenders and
other bidders had not surfaced at the time of the spin-off.

However, they said companies like Mars and Tchibo had been
mentioned as potentially interested parties.

D.E Master Blenders, which also makes Senseo coffee pods and
machines, was spun off last year by U.S. group Sara Lee, now
known as Hillshire Brands. According to Euromonitor, it
is the No. 3 global coffer player after Switzerland’s Nestle
, the market leader, and U.S.-based Mondelez
International, which used to be called Kraft Foods
before it spun off some businesses into Kraft Foods Group Inc
.

By contrast, the market in the United States is dominated by
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc, J.M. Smucker Co
, which makes Folgers, and Starbucks Corp,
Euromonitor says. D.E does not currently have much business in
the United States.

Even though the company has a sizeable business in Brazil it
has struggled to benefit from a growing global industry. It has
a high exposure to austerity-hit European markets, where price
increases, put through to offset soaring coffee costs, hurt
sales volume.

The Dutch firm said it was being advised by investment banks
Goldman Sachs, Lazard, and JP Morgan, and by lawyers Allen &
Overy. A spokeswoman for JAB declined to comment.

PREMIUM PRICE

The indicated price values D.E Master Blenders at a forecast
2013 EV/EBITDA (or the ratio of enterprise value to earnings
before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of 16
times, Nomura analysts said in a research note, and a forecast
2013 price/earnings multiple of 24.3.

“As a benchmark, the recently-concluded Heinz deal by 3G was
at a 2013 EV/EBITDA of 14.6 times,” Nomura said.

Even prior to the bid approach, D.E Master Blenders’ shares
had traded at a premium to peers, partly on speculation that JAB
would increase its stake or eventually make an offer for the
firm, and on hopes that a new chief executive, who took over in
December, would turn around its performance.

The Reimann fortune comes from the Benckiser chemicals
company, founded in 1823 and one of the predecessor companies of
London-based Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc. The family also
controls fashion group Coty, and owns Labelux Group,
manager of luxury brands Bally, Belstaff and Jimmy Choo.

JAB agreed to buy Caribou Coffee Co Inc for about $340
million in December, after snapping up Peet’s Coffee & Tea Inc
for about $1 billion in July.

It raised its stake in D.E Master Blenders in October to
just over 15 percent, although Olivetree said the company could
have since upped that to just under 20 percent.

Last month, D.E Master Blenders posted lower-than-expected
profits and cut its outlook for 2013, blaming pricing pressures
in Europe. It has also experienced higher-than-expected costs at
its troubled Brazilian business, which was hit by fraud, tax and
inventory issues forcing D.E Master Blenders to restate past
financial statements.

($1 = 0.7824 euros)

(Additional reporting by Martinne Geller, Gilbert Kreijger,
Ivana Sekularac and Simon Jessop; Editing by Mark Potter,
Bernard Orr)