Dunkin' Brands Inc. filed plans with federal regulators to raise up to $400 million in an initial public offering, the company said Wednesday morning.
Dunkin' Brands, which is parent to the 9,805-unit Dunkin' Donuts and the 6,482-unit Baskin Robbins chains, did not detail how many shares it would offer or a per-share price. Dunkin' did say all shares would be sold by the company and not existing shareholders.
Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin' Brands is currently owned by private-equity groups Bain Capital, The Carlyle Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners, which acquired the company for around $2.4 billion in 2006.
While there has long been talk of a possible IPO from Dunkin' Brands, speculation shot up in April amid reports from unnamed sources who said the company would go public sometime this year. At the time, a Reuters report suggested the IPO could range between $500 million and $750 million.
Last week, Dunkin' Brands reported a loss of $1.7 million for March-ended first quarter from a profit of $5.9 million in the same period last year, which the company said was due to a one-time charge of $11 million related to its debt repricing. The company said revenue rose 9.3 percent to $139.2 million, which reflected a 2.7-percent increase in U.S. same-store sales.