JAB Holding to buy bakery chain Panera Bread in $7.5 billion deal

JAB Holdings, the owner of Caribou Coffee and Peet's Coffee & Tea, said on Wednesday it would buy U.S. bakery chain Panera Bread Co in a all-cash deal valued at about $7.5 billion, including debt.

JAB Holdings's offer of $315 per Panera share represents a 20.3 percent premium to the stock's closing price on March 31, the last trading day before media reports of a potential deal.

A sale to JAB, which also owns Keurig Green Mountain, would help the company compete against rivals such as Dunkin Brands Group Inc .

(Reporting by Anya George Tharakan in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)