JAB’s frenzied emergence as leader
The $7.5 billion July purchase of Panera Bread Co. represented the latest in a veritable blizzard of acquisitions by Luxembourg-based JAB Holding Co. over the past five years. The transactions have been heavily focused in two food product categories: coffee and grain-based foods.
JAB Holding, together with JAB Consumer Fund, are headed by three senior partners: Peter Harf; Bart Becht, chairman; and Olivier Goudet, chief executive officer.
Together, the two groups hold controlling interests in Keurig Green Mountain (acquired in 2016, for $13.9 billion), the leader in single-serve coffee and beverage technologies; Jacobs Douwe Egberts, the largest pure-play fast moving consumer goods coffee company (2015 merger in which Mondelez was paid €3.8 billion and holds a 44% interest); Peet's Coffee & Tea, a premier specialty coffee and tea company (2012, $1 billion); Caribou Coffee Co., a specialty retailer of premium coffee products (2013, $340 million); Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, Inc., quick-casual restaurant business (2014, $374 million); Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, a global donut retailer and wholesaler (2016, $1.4 billion); and Espresso House, the largest branded coffee shop chain in Scandinavia (2016, $238 million).
