Dunkin' Brands Group files for $400 million IPO

BANGALORE (Reuters) - Dunkin' Brands Group Inc, known for its Dunkin' Donuts doughnuts and coffee and Baskin Robbins ice cream brands, filed with U.S. regulators to raise up to $400 million in an initial public offering.

The company, which has private equity firms Bain Capital, Carlyle Group CYL.UL, and Thomas H. Lee Partners THL.UL as its stakeholders, said it plans to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol "DNKN."

The Dunkin' Brands IPO comes on the heels of a series of buyout-backed offerings, including HCA Holdings Inc (HCA.N), Kinder Morgan Inc (KMI.N), BankUnited Inc (BKU.N) and Nielsen Holdings (NLSN.N).

Dunkin' Brands was taken private in 2005 by a consortium of private equity firms, including Bain Capital, Carlyle Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners, in a $2.4 billion deal.

Dunkin Donuts, which previously operated as a unit of Allied Domecq, competes with Dairy Queen, Cold Stone Creamery and Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O).

When Pernod Ricard (PERP.PA), the world's No. 2 spirits maker, acquired Allied Domecq in 2005, it divested the Dunkin' Brands businesses.

Dunkin' Brands, with over 16,000 points of distribution in 57 countries, earned $26.9 million on revenue of $577.1 million in its fiscal year ended December 25.

The filing did not reveal how many shares the company planned to sell or their expected price.

The offering is being made through an underwriting group led by J.P. Morgan Securities, Barclays Capital and Morgan Stanley & Co Inc.

BofA Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs & Co are also acting as joint book-running managers of the offering.

No shares are being offered by existing shareholders, Dunkin' Brands said.

Reuters previously reported that the company picked Barclays (BARC.L), JPMorgan (JPM.N) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N) as active bookrunners, and Bank of America (BAC.N) and Goldman Sachs (GS.N) as passive bookrunners on its planned IPO.

In February, Indian fast-food operator Jubilant Foodworks Ltd (JUBI.NS) announced that it would partner with Dunkin' Donuts to bring its brand to India.

Dunkin' Brands intends to use the proceeds from the IPO to repay debt, and for working capital and general corporate purposes.

(Reporting by Helen Chernikoff in New York and Brenton Cordeiro in Bangalore, editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Maju Samuel)