- Dunkin Brands Group Inc (NASDAQ: DNKN) — the company behind Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins — is reportedly near a deal to be acquired by Inspire Brands. These are the details.
Dunkin Brands Group Inc (NASDAQ: DNKN) — the company behind Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins — is reportedly near a deal to be acquired by Inspire Brands, according to The New York Times. The deal is reportedly going to be valued at $106.50 per share. That price point represents a 20% premium over the closing price of DNKN on Friday.
The deal could be announced as early as tomorrow. However, the deal terms are subject to change and it is not 100% confirmed as of yet.
“Dunkin’ Brands confirms that it has held preliminary discussions to be acquired by Inspire Brands,” said Karen Raskopf, a spokesperson at Dunkin.’
The stock price of Dunkin’ fell by about half in March from its highs in February. But it recovered in value last month based due to investor optimism about the mobile order app and loyalty program driving sales during the pandemic. However, the company still had to make major operational changes. For example, Dunkin’ announced in July that it will be closing around 800 U.S. locations permanently this year.
What is Inspire Brands? Inspire Brands (formerly known as Arby’s Restaurant Group) is a holding company and a franchisor of Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Sonic, Jimmy John’s, and Rusty Taco restaurants. The owner of Inspire Brands is Roark Capital Group. Roark is also known for making a $200 million investment in Cheesecake Factory back in April.
The history of Dunkin’ Donuts goes back to the year 1948 when William Rosenberg opened Open Kettle, which is a restaurant that sold donuts and coffee in Quincy, Massachusetts. The name was changed in 1950 to Dunkin’ Donuts after a discussion with company executives. Then it started a franchise model in 1955. Baskin-Robbins owner Allied Lyons bought Dunkin’ Donuts in 1990 and by 1998, the brand grew to 2,500 locations with billions in revenue.
In 2005, Dunkin’ Donut and Baskin-Robbins (operating under the name Dunkin’ Brands) were acquired by a private equity consortium, which included Bain Capital, Carlyle Group, and Thomas H. Lee Partners for about $2.4 billion. And by 2010, Dunkin’ Donuts was hitting around $6 billion in revenue.
