JAB Buys Panera Bread for USD7.5bn

Panera Bread Company and JAB announced that the companies have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which JAB will acquire Panera, in a transaction valued at approximately USD7.5 billion, including the assumption of approximately USD340m of net debt.

The agreement, which has been unanimously approved by Panera’s Board of Directors, represents a premium of approximately 30% to the 30-day volume-weighted average stock price as of March 31, 2017, (the last trading day prior to news reports speculating about a potential transaction), and a premium of approximately 20% to Panera’s all-time high closing stock price as of that same date.

Ron Shaich, founder, chairman and CEO of Panera, commented: “By any measure, Panera has been one of the most successful restaurant companies in history. What started as one 400 square foot cookie store in Boston has grown to a system with over 2,000 units, approximately USD5bn in sales, and over 100,000 associates. In more than 25 years as a publicly traded company, Panera has created significant shareholder value. 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.”

Shaich continued, “Over the last five years, we have developed and executed a powerful strategic plan to be a better competitive alternative with emerging runways for growth. The themes we have bet on – digital, wellness, loyalty, omni-channel, new formats for growth – are shaping the restaurant industry today. Indeed, the power of the plan is evident in our business results. Today, we are pre-releasing Q1 2017 Company-owned bakery-cafe comps of 5.3%, which is 690 bps better than the Black Box all-industry composite.”