Steve’s breakdown: New owners are usually good or bad for advertising. Be ready either way. FYI: Caribou, founded in 1992, had 610 coffeehouses, including 202 franchised locations, in 22 states, the District of Columbia, and ten international markets, as of Sept. 30.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN: A German holding company is buying Caribou Coffee (CBOU) for approximately $324.8 million.

Caribou Coffee will continue to operate as an independent company with its own brand and management team once the buyout closes. It will keep its headquarters in Minneapolis.

Joh. A. Benckiser Group will pay $16 per share, a 30% premium to Caribou’s Friday closing price of $12.32. The companies put the total value of the deal at about $340 million. Earlier this year, Benckiser spent about $1 billion to buy Peet’s Coffee & Tea.

Caribou currently has 20.3 million outstanding shares, according to FactSet.

Caribou’s board unanimously approved the buyout.

According to its press release Monday, Caribou, founded in 1992, had 610 coffeehouses, including 202 franchised locations, in 22 states, the District of Columbia, and ten international markets, as of Sept. 30.

Benckiser is a privately held holding company whose assets include ownership of or stakes in Coty, household products maker Reckitt Benckiser, D.E Master Blenders 1753 and Labelux, a luxury goods company with brands such as Jimmy Choo, Bally and Belstaff.

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