JAB Holdings, the private investment company of Germany's billionaire Reimann family, has bought a majority stake in UK sandwich shop chain Pret A Manger.
JAB is buying Pret from private equity firm Bridgepoint and other minority investors for an undisclosed sum.
The Financial Times earlier reported that the price paid by JAB was £1.5 billion, including debt.
Luxembourg-headquartered JAB is the investment vehicle of Germany's wealthy Reimann family.
Bridgepoint bought the chain at the height of the buyout boom in 2008 for €500m.
JAB has built up the world's second-largest coffee business over the past five years.
It controls packaged brands such as Kenco and Douwe Egberts; retail chains like Peet's and Espresso House; and Keurig, the leading at-home single-serve brewer system in the US.
Pret has 530 stores worldwide and is rapidly expanding globally in countries such as the US, China and France. It booked revenues of £879m last year.
Reuters reported last year that Philippines fast food chain Jollibee Foods was exploring a bid worth over $1 billion for Pret.
