The Owner Of Krispy Kreme Is Buying Panera Bread

Looks like Panera Bread has been sold and it’s been sold to the owner of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.

JAB Holdings, who also owns Caribou Coffee, announced on Wednesday that it would be buying Panera Bread for $7.2 billion in one of the biggest U.S. restaurant deals ever.

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, the acquisition is the second-biggest restaurant deal in North America after Burger King’s $11.53 billion purchase of Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons.

JAB offered $315 per share in cash, which is a 20.3 percent premium to the stock’s closing price on March 31st. This was the last trading day before a potential deal was reported to be in the works.

JAB Holding Company is a privately held business group headquartered in Luxembourg focused on investments in companies with premium brands in the Consumer Goods category. It’s the investment vehicle of the Reimann family who are German billionaires.

The holding company has been busy buying coffee and food chains in the last few years and with this acquisition has just made their empire even larger.

Panera Bread has around 2,000 bakery cafes in the U.S. and just reported preliminary first-quarter company-owned sales-store growth of 5.3 percent which beat Wall Street’s expectations.

Shares of Panera soared 14.2% to a record high of $312.98 after the news.

Both companies said in a joint statement that JAB will assume about $340 million of Panera’s net debt, valuing the deal at $7.5 billion. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Panera Bread Co. (NASDAQ: PNRA) and have not been compensated for this article.