ATLANTA – Inspire Brands Inc. has entered into an agreement to acquire the Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc., Canton, Mass., in a transaction valued at approximately $11.3 billion. The announcement follows a week of speculation that such an agreement was in the offing.

Inspire Brands owns multiple restaurant brands, including Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Sonic Drive-In and Jimmy John’s. The company generates approximately $15 billion in annual sales and has a total of 11,000 restaurants worldwide. The addition of the Dunkin’ Brands will add Dunkin’ and Baskin Robbins to Inspire’s list of brands and approximately 20,500 additional outlets.

During the third quarter of fiscal 2020, ended Sept. 26, Dunkin’ Brands net income equaled $74 million, equal to 90¢ per share, up 2.2% from $72.4 million, or 87¢ per share, in the prior-year period. Revenues totaled $361.5 million, up 1.6% from $355.9 million.

“Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robbins are category leaders with more than 70 years of rich heritage, and together they are two of the most iconic restaurant brands in the world,” said Paul Brown, co-founder and chief executive officer of Inspire Brands. “By joining Inspire, these brands will add complementary guest experiences and occasions to our current portfolio. Further, they will strengthen Inspire through their scaled international platform and robust consumer packaged goods licensing infrastructure, as well as add more than 15 million loyalty members.”

Under the terms of the agreement, which was approved by the boards of directors of both companies, Inspire will commence a tender offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Dunkin’ Brands for $106.50 per share in cash. The amount represents a premium of approximately 30% to Dunkin’ Brands’ 30-day volume-weighted average price and a premium of approximately 20% per share to Dunkin’ Brands’ closing stock price on Oct. 23, 2020, according to Inspire Brands.

The deal is expected to close by the end of 2020.