A Panera Bread mango yuzu citrus charged lemonade is displayed at a Panera Bread restaurant in Novato, California, on Nov. 1, 2023.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Photographs
Panera Bread has confidentially filed to go public once more, the Monetary Occasions reported.
The restaurant chain, identified for its soups, sandwiches and bagels, has been signaling for months that it is seeking to go public by means of an preliminary public providing. In Might, Panera introduced a CEO transition and mentioned the management modifications have been “in preparation for its eventual IPO” — amid a two-year IPO drought that ended within the fall.
Mediterranean restaurant chain Cava, whose chair is Panera founder Ron Shaich, was among the many trickle of corporations that went public this yr. Traders had blended reactions to the slate of choices.
Panera is not alone in hoping market situations enhance in 2024. Chinese language-founded fast-fashion large Shein confidentially filed to go public Monday, and Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Reddit and Skims may be in subsequent yr’s IPO class.
Panera declined to remark to CNBC.
The corporate was final publicly traded in 2017. JAB Holding, the funding arm of the Reimann household, purchased the corporate for $7.5 billion. It added Panera to a portfolio that, at the moment, included Keurig and Krispy Kreme.
In recent times, nonetheless, JAB has been remodeling its portfolio. In 2021, it bought Au Bon Ache to a Yum Manufacturers franchisee and took Krispy Kreme public.
JAB additionally tried to take Panera public once more that yr. However in 2022, Panera referred to as off its cope with Danny Meyer’s particular function acquisition firm. The weird association would have exchanged shares of USHG Acquisition for the sandwich chain’s inventory and allowed the corporate to outlive a merger with Panera’s subsidiary Rye Merger.
Nonetheless, Panera scrapped these plans, citing market situations.
However the chain’s present try to go public comes because the restaurant has drawn scrutiny for different causes. The corporate was lately sued for its “charged lemonade.” The plaintiffs allege the drink brought about the dying of their college-age daughter, who had a coronary heart situation.
Learn the complete story from the Monetary Occasions right here.
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