Krispy Kreme Acquired For $1.35 Billion

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc will be taken private by JAB Holding Co for about $1.35 billion, the second buyout of a U.S. food company by the German investment firm in just over two months.

Krispy Kreme shares rose nearly 24 percent to $20.88 in premarket trading on Monday, just shy of the offer price of $21 per share in cash.

JAB Holding will acquire Krispy Kreme through its unit JAB Beech Inc, in which BDT Capital Partners is a minority investor.

The U.S. donut chain had 1,121 stores worldwide as of January, of which 824 were in markets outside the United States.

Krispy Kreme said it would continue to operate as an independent company after the deal closes and remain headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

JAB Holding, the investment vehicle of the billionaire Reimann family, led a buyout of K-cup coffee pod maker Keurig Green Mountain Inc in March for $13.9 billion.

Cosmetics company Coty Inc and luxury goods maker Jimmy Choo are among the other U.S. companies in which the German company has controlling stakes.

The Krispy Kreme deal, which has no financing conditions, is expected to close in the third quarter. The company said it was postponing its annual shareholder meeting scheduled for June 14 due to the deal.

Wells Fargo Securities LLC is the U.S. company's financial adviser for the deal, while Barclays and BDT & Co LLC are advising JAB Beech.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice LLP are Krispy Kreme's legal advisers and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is JAB Beech's legal counsel.

(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Kirti Pandey)