Investors eat up Dunkin' Brands IPO

Dunkin' Brands, the US fast-food chain which owns Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins, saw its shares surge nearly 40 percent in value as they debuted on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Wednesday. The company, which listed under the stock ticker DNKN, was trading at $26.54 per share after three hours of trading, a jump from its initial public offering (IPO) price of $19.00 per share. The offering of more than 22 million shares raised around $400 million for the Massachusetts-based purveyor of donuts and ice cream. Underwriters have the option to sell 3.34 million more shares in case of strong investor interest. "Nasdaq is elated to welcome Dunkin' Brands, a leader in consumer brand loyalty across a variety of categories in the quick service restaurant business, to the Nasdaq family," Nasdaq vice president Bruce Aust said in a statement. The company owns more than 16,000 food outlets in 57 countries. It enjoyed profits of $26.9 million last year on revenues of $577 million.