Nov 12 (Reuters) - Keurig Dr Pepper said on Thursday it had raised about $2 billion in a public offering, as the beverage maker seeks to reduce debt ahead of its planned split into two publicly traded companies early next year.
The company priced its offering of 58 million shares at $34.50 each.
• Keurig Dr Pepper announced last year it would separate into two independent companies, Beverage Co. and Global Coffee Co., with the transaction expected to close in early 2027
• The company said on Thursday
that it intends to use the net proceeds to repay or repurchase about $2 billion of outstanding debt
• The company added it would also grant underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional $300 million of shares at the offering price
• Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering
• As of September 30, Keurig Dr Pepper reported long-term debt excluding capitalized leases of about $21.06 billion, according to its latest quarterly filing
• Keurig completed the $18 billion buyout of Dutch coffee and tea company JDE Peet's in April
• Last week, Keurig said it expects slower US coffee profit growth in the fourth quarter on cautious spending and increased competition from private players
• Shares of the company fell 7.4% to close at $35.42
(Reporting by Koyena Das in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Rhea Rose Abraham; Editing by Vijay Kishore, Rashmi Aich and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
