Japan Tobacco's Global Ambitions Lead to Logic Acquisition

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. — Japan Tobacco Inc. (JTI) continues to make moves in the global electronic-cigarette market.

This time around, JTI is acquiring Logic Technology Development LLC, a Pompano Beach-based electronic cigarette company.

"With the Logic brand and its strong portfolio of products, the JT Group has a sizeable participation in the largest and fast-growing U.S. e-cigarette market," said Masamichi Terabatake, Japan Tobacco International's executive vice president and deputy CEO. "Logic's well established presence in the U.S., in addition to our acquisition of E-Lites in the U.K., further underpins our global ambitions to become the leader in emerging products."

Under the agreement, Logic's executive management team will remain with the JT Group post-acquisition.

"With the backing of JT Group's global resources, we believe Logic is uniquely positioned to accelerate its growth in the U.S. market and further enhance its product offering." said Eli Alelov, Logic's co-founder and CEO.

Fellow Logic co-founder Howard Panes added that the company looks "forward to the next phase of Logic's development with the JT Group."

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of fiscal year 2015, following regulatory clearance.

The Logic acquisition is just the latest JTI has inked in the past few months. In February, JTI inked a deal to acquire Ploom's modelTwo and pods product line — including the "Ploom" trademark — and general intellectual property related to modelTwo and pods, as CSNews Online previously reported.

In addition, JTI acquired the U.K.-based E-Lites electronic cigarette brand in June 2014.