Shares of the restaurant chain, Panera Bread Company (NASDAQ: PNRA) blasted off over 14% on Thursday as it was confirmed that the company would be bought out. Since the beginning of the year shares are up over 50% but the real action started just a few days ago. A few weeks ago it was rumored that they would be bought out, but there was no confirmation from the company. On Thursday JAB Holding confirmed that they would be buying the chain for $7.2 billion or $315 per share.
JAB Holdings is the owner of Caribou coffee and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and has been looking for ways to expand its coffee and breakfast offering. The company has been building their portfolio in this space for a while. Their most recent purchase was that of the K-Cup coffee maker, Keurig Green Mountain (NASDAQ: GMCR).
As for this purchase it seems to be a great fit. JAB will now be the owner of around 2000 Panera stores in the United States. The holding company stated that they were especially impressed with the recent efforts to improve the customer loyalty program as well as the new kiosks that allow customers to reduce their waiting times. Just last week the company also expanded its delivery option as well. Also the company has been performing quite well. Panera has reported better than expected earnings per share for the last six quarters in a row. Store growth has also been steadily out performing.
As long as the transaction goes through it will be the second largest restaurant deal ever, second only to Burger King's (NYSE: BKW) purchase of Tim Hortons for $11 billion. As for the transaction details, JAB will take over around $340 million of Panera's current debt which really makes the deal just over $7.5 billion. Both companies have stated that they feel the deal will close in the third quarter this year.