Sandwich and coffee shop chain Pret A Manger is the latest addition to the food and beverage empire that JAB Holding has been steadily building.
Headquartered in Luxembourg and closely held by the private Reimann family of Germany, JAB Holding Company has invested over $58 billion in M&A over the past six years. The conglomerate has focused primarily on coffee, seeking to compete with global giant Nestlé. An ongoing food industry acquisition spree began in 2012 with the purchase of U.S.-based Peet’s Coffee & Tea, and later included such high-profile acquisitions as Keurig Green Mountain in a $13.9 billion deal.
In 2017 JAB expanded beyond coffee, acquiring Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Bruegger’s Bagels, and sandwich and bakery café chain Panera Bread. Panera in turn acquired Au Bon Pain, a similar chain. Early this year JAB added soft drinks to its portfolio when JAB-owned Keurig Green Mountain acquired Dr Pepper Snapple in an $18.7 billion deal. This formed a new beverage giant called Keurig Dr Pepper, and gave JAB access to one of the biggest drink distribution networks in the U.S.
Now JAB has announced it will purchase a controlling stake in British sandwich and coffee chain Pret A Manger, a rival to Panera and Au Bon Pain, in a deal valued at nearly $2 billion. Since its founding in 1986, Pret A Manger has grown from a single shop in London to 530 locations around the world, according to the New York Times. In a news release, Pret said that it had £879 million in annual revenue, and that 2017 was its ninth consecutive year of like-for-like sales growth. The company has been controlled by European private equity firm Bridgepoint Capital since 2008.
Owning Pret A Manger will fortify JAB’s competitive position in the food industry against rival Nestlé, which recently struck a $7.1 billion deal with Starbucks to sell its coffee and other food and beverage products globally.
