Dunkin’ Brands Dunkin’ into debt

Talk about a big gulp. Bain, Carlyle and Thomas H Lee are borrowing $1.6bn for their $2.425bn acquisition of coffee and doughnuts chain Dunkin’ Brands. That makes it one of the most highly leveraged buyouts in the US since the late 1980s. Are they biting off more than they can chew? True, the private equity firms are putting in a hefty chunk of equity – roughly a third of the price tag. But the debt load works out to 8.5 times operating cashflow of $188m. Put that in perspective. Back in 2001 th...