New World Coffee-Manhattan Bagel, Inc. (Nasdaq:
NWCI – news) today announced that it completed the acquisition of the assets of Einstein/Noah
Bagel Corp. (“ENBC”) and Einstein/Noah Bagel Partners (“ENBP”) (together “Einstein/Noah”)
on June 19, 2001.
With the acquisition, New World has emerged as the nation’s largest bagel bakery company, with
approximately 800 franchised, licensed and company-owned retail locations in 35 states and the
District of Columbia, as well as manufacturing facilities on both coasts. New World’s bagel stores
operate under the Einstein Bros. Bagels, Manhattan Bagel, Noah’s NY Bagels, and Chesapeake
Bagel Bakery brands.
Yesterday’s closing came eighteen days after the Company submitted the winning bid for the
assets at an auction in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Phoenix, comprised of $160 million in cash,
plus the assumption of up to $30 million of certain current operating liabilities. To complete the
acquisition, New World completed an equity investment of $25 million from institutional investors,
plus a debt financing placed by Jefferies & Company.
As previously announced, the acquisition includes substantially all assets of Einstein/Noah,
including approximately 460 primarily company-owned stores, a manufacturing facility in Los
Angeles, Einstein/Noah’s support center in Golden, CO, and all trademarks and intellectual
property rights.
Einstein/Noah, which now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of New World, will continue to
be based in the Golden, CO support center. New World has extended an offer of employment to
all the employees of Einstein/Noah and expects that virtually all employees, including members
of the operating management team, will continue in their current roles.
“This acquisition brings two strong concepts with powerful brand identities, a very profitable store
base and a great deal of talent to our team.” said Ramin Kamfar, New World Chairman and CEO.
“Accordingly, we expect Einstein/Noah to become an important contributor to our company, to our
management team and to our bottom line. Our intention is to maintain the distinct identities of
these well-established concepts and to grow the chains.”
Kamfar added: `”The Einstein/Noah acquisition positions us as the leader of the retail bagel
bakery business, and a leading player in the fast growing, attractive ‘fast-casual’ segment of the
industry. This will serve as a formidable platform on which to expand our business through the
addition of new store locations, and through leveraging our brands into non-traditional channels,
such as universities and hotels.”
“We are very excited to have completed this acquisition, as Einstein/Noah will add approximately
$370 million in revenues and over $30 million in EBITDA to our income statement today,” said New World CFO Jerold Novack. “In
addition it offers significant opportunities for increased efficiencies primarily in purchasing, manufacturing and distribution, which
leads us to expect the combined business to be significantly more profitable than the businesses on a standalone basis.”
New World Coffee-Manhattan Bagel, Inc. currently franchises, licenses or owns stores under its six brands in 35 states and
Washington, D.C. The Company is vertically integrated in bagel dough manufacturing and coffee roasting, with plants in New Jersey,
California and Connecticut.
