Dunkin Brands Finally Files For IPO, A Private Equity Bonanza

Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc. has finally filed to come public.  This is one of those IPOs which has long been on teh watch list but one which was never known exactly when the filing would come.  It will be a private equity offering as the owner of Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins is owned by affiliates of The Carlyle Group, Bain Capital, and Thomas H. Lee Partners.  Dunkin was not listed as one of our Top 17 IPOs to Watch in 2011 because it was not certain that the company was going to be brought public.

The company has noted that it plans to sell up to $400 million in common stock, although other terms such as a price range and a share count have not been disclosed.  The underwriting group is rather large: J.P. Morgan, Barclays, Morgan Stanley, BofA Merrill Lynch, and Goldman Sachs.  This one intends to list under the ticker “DNKN” on the NASDAQ.

Other than owning Baskin-Robbins, Dunkin needs very little introduction as far as what the company does for operations. The company is a franchise model under the Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins brands with more than 16,000 distribution points located in 57 countries.

Dunkin also operates in four segments:

• Dunkin’ Donuts U.S.,
• Dunkin’ Donuts International,
• Baskin-Robbins International
• and Baskin-Robbins U.S.

It noted in the filing, “In 2010, our Dunkin’ Donuts segments generated revenues of $416.5 million, or 76% of our total segment revenues, of which $402.4 million was in the U.S. segment, and $14.1 million was in the international segment.”   In 2010, the Baskin-Robbins segments generated revenues of $134.2 million, with $91.3 million from the international segment and $42.9 million from the U.S. segment.

As of March 26, 2011, there were 9,805 Dunkin’ Donuts points of distribution, of which 6,799 were in the U.S. and 3,006 were international.  It had 6,482 Baskin-Robbins points of distribution, of which 3,959 were international and 2,523 were in the U.S.

For fiscal year 2010, the company generated total revenues and operating income of $577.1 million and $193.5 million, respectively.

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JON C. OGG

Dunkin’s full IPO FILING is here.