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JAB Holdings gobbles up US bakery chain Panera Bread in takeover deal
US bakery chain Panera Bread Co. (NASDAQ:PNRA) has agreed to a merger with JAB Holdings in a deal valued at about US$7.5bn.
Luxembourg-based JAB, which owns Caribou Coffee and Peet’s Coffee and Tea, will pay US$315 in cash per Panera share and will assume US$340mln of net debt.
The offer represents a 30% premium to Panera’s closing share price on 31 March, the last trading day before the reports of a potential deal surfaced.
Shares jumped 13.48% to US$274.00 in US pre-market trading.
JAB has been expanding its coffee and food empire in recent years with acquisitions of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Keurig Green Mountain and K-cup coffee pod-maker.
JAB, the investment vehicle of Germany’s billionaire Reimann family, also owns majority stakes in coffee brand Jacobs Douwe Egberts and Jimmy Choo.
Following the Panera acquisition, JAB will have spent about US$40bn on deals in the US in the past decade.
Panera has 2,000 bakery cafes in the US and about US$5bn in annual sales.
“In more than 25 years as a publicly traded company, Panera has created significant shareholder value,” said chairman and founder Ron Shaich.
“Indeed, Panera has been the best performing restaurant stock of the past twenty years – up over 8,000%. Today’s transaction is a direct reflection of those efforts, and delivers substantial additional value for our shareholders.”
The deal is expected to close during the third quarter of 2017, subject to approvals by Panera shareholders and regulators.
Story by ProactiveInvestors
Source: http://www.proactiveinvestors.com/companies/news/176024/jab-holdings-gobbles-up-us-bakery-chain-panera-bread-in-takeover-deal-176024.html
