Dunkin' Brands will list its stocks as DNKN on NASDAQ, photo/bfishadow

CANTON, Mass. — Dunkin' Brands CEO Nigel Travis announced this morning to franchisees that it has filed for an initial public offering of $400 million in common stock.

The stock will be listed as DNKN. Travis announced that six percent of the IPO will be set aside for the chain's franchisees and the franchisor's employees. Nigel said that the franchising company will use the $400 million to grow globally.

The CEO announced that his employment contract with Dunkin' Brands has been extended by five years.

Dunkin' Brands, which franchises and licenses the Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins brands, went private five years ago in a stock buyout by Bain Capital LLC, Carlyle Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP. It was a deal valued at $2.43 billion. The private equity firms will now own over five percent of the stock.

The major newswires — Reuters (40 minutes ago), AP, Bloomberg, the Boston Globe — have published stories over the last few hours based on a press release earlier in the morning. Speculation about a Dunkin' Brands IPO circulated among the chain's store owner-operators over the past few months. The media confirmed this at the beginning of April. Blue MauMau is publishing the email below that went out to franchisees at 8:26 a.m. Eastern Time.

Dear Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins U.S. & Canada Franchisees,

I am very pleased to announce that today Dunkin' Brands has filed a registration statement (S-1) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a proposed initial public offering (IPO) of $400 million of its common stock.  Please see the attached press release that we issued a short while ago.

We believe an IPO is the logical next step in the Company's development and that there are significant opportunities to grow our brands globally, further support the profitability of our franchisees, expand our leadership in the coffee and baked goods, as well as ice cream categories of the QSR segment of the restaurant industry, and deliver shareholder value.

I am also pleased to announce we intend to set aside 6% of the shares to be offered in the IPO for sale to franchisees and employees through a Directed Share Program. Because of the SEC rules that apply to us during the IPO process we are not able to provide any additional information about the Directed Share Program at this time.  Additional details will be provided as soon as we are legally able to do so in the future. 

The timing of our offering will be dependent on several factors.  In the meantime, now that we have filed the S-1, the Company is in what is known as a "quiet period." During the quiet period, the SEC strictly regulates what we can say about the offering, the process and the Company's business and future prospects.  Violation of these rules, even if unintentional, carries serious consequences.  I strongly suggest that none of you speak to anyone outside of Dunkin' Brands about the offering.  If you receive any inquiries about the offering, please direct them to Karen Raskopf, SVP of Corporate Communications, at 781-737-5200.

You are also invited to join me on an All Franchisee Call today at 4:30 pm ET to discuss this announcement. Please see the dial-in instructions below.

To the extent that we are legally able, we will keep you updated throughout this process.  If you have additional questions about the IPO, you might want to read our S-1 which will be available today via the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

Additionally, I would like to let you know that I have signed a five-year extension to my employment contract.  A big part of my decision to do this was because of my strong faith in our brands and out of a desire to continue working with our franchise community. 

I look forward to writing the next chapter of our history together.  As always, thank you for your business.

Sincerely,

Nigel Travis
CEO, Dunkin' Brands
President, Dunkin' Donuts

Note: The dial-in phone number in the above email has been deleted by Blue MauMau.

In anticipation of this event, Dunkin' Brands published its first quarter financial results in a press release last week.