Skift Take
The money raise asks the question: What's the next acquisition target? More restaurants or more beverage companies?
— Jason Clampet
JAB Holding Co., owner of restaurant chains Panera and Au Bon Pain and coffee brands Peet’s and Stumptown, is close to collecting about 5 billion euros ($5.8 billion) in its latest round of fundraising, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
About 60 investors have contributed to the fund after the investment company backed by the billionaire Reimann family reached out to sovereign wealth funds, pensions and endowments, the people said, asking not to be named as the details aren’t public. Investment banks including HSBC Holdings Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Deutsche Bank AG and Morgan Stanley are also investing amounts ranging from about 50 million euros to 150 million euros, they said.
Representatives for JAB, JPMorgan, HSBC, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.
Meanwhile, JAB has found the response from some potential investors to be more lukewarm than it expected as funds balked at the firm’s recent spree of acquisitions, a few of the people said. The company this year purchased Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. for $18.7 billion and a majority stake in the U.K.’s Pret A Manger for about 1.5 billion pounds ($2 billion).
JAB has over the last six years built a coffee and soft drinks empire that is set to mirror Anheuser-Busch InBev SA’s dominance over the brewing industry. The firm has tapped a simple formula of buying its coffee now and paying later to help its expansion, wielding its growing market influence, Bloomberg reported in January. The strategy has left the closely held investment firm sitting on a pile of cash.
–With assistance from Sarah Syed and Dinesh Nair.
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.
This article was written by Ruth David from Bloomberg and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].
