A neon Krispy Kreme sign in Atlanta, USA | Photo credit: Ben Dutton

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Krispy Kreme has confidentially filed for an IPO with US regulators, the company has announced, a move which could return the US bakery and coffee chain to the stock market after a five-year absence.
 
Krispy Kreme made its stock market debut in 2000 but filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy soon after following financial restatements, investigations into its accounting practices and poor performance among some franchised locations.
 
The company went private in May 2016 after it was acquired by Luxembourg-based conglomerate JAB Holding Company in deal worth $1.35bn.
 
However, Krispy Kreme is the latest JAB Holdings-controlled coffee company to either launch or reportedly consider an IPO. In June 2020 JDE Peet’s, raised $2.5bn with an IPO that valued the company at $17.3bn.
 
In April 2021 Panera Bread was reported to have completed an $800m refinancing, a move which could pave the way for the company to go public after JAB Holdings took the company private in 2017 as part of its $7.5bn acquisition.
 
Krispy Kreme opened its first store in North Carolina in 1937. It now sells branded bakery and coffee products in 12,000 grocery and convenience stores in the US and operates nearly 1,400 stores in 33 countries. Today, the company promotes that it makes 4,560 doughnuts every hour.
 
Krispy Kreme competes with bakery and coffee chain rival Dunkin’ in the US, which in December 2020 went private after being acquired by Inspire Brands Inc. for $8.76bn.