KEURIG DR PEPPER EYES NASDAQ TO BROADEN INVESTOR BASE

The Nasdaq switch

Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. will move its listing to the Nasdaq Inc. stock exchange as part of a series of measures designed to diversify its shareholder base.

What’s happening

The coffee and soft drinks manufacturer will shift its shares from the New York Stock Exchange later this month, it said in a Tuesday statement. With a market value of about $42 billion, Keurig Dr

Pepper will rank among the largest companies on the historically techfocused exchange, which is home to the likes of Apple, Amazon.com and Facebook. Its size will secure it a place on the widely-tracked Nasdaq-100 index, helping it attract more passive investment.

Why it’s happening

“Listing on Nasdaq is an important milestone in Keurig Dr Pepper’s evolution as a modern beverage company with a diverse and widely-held shareholder base,”Chief Executive Officer Bob Gamgort said in a statement. In addition to the listings switch, major shareholder JAB Holdings, which controls just under half of Keurig Dr Pepper through its Maple Holdings BV investment vehicle, is to redistribute around $2.2 billion of shares in the company to its own investors, according to a separate statement. The plans form part of Gamgort’s ambition to make Keurig Dr Pepper a more widely held stock, after a previous focus on integrating the Keurig Green Mountain and Dr Pepper Snapple Group businesses following a merger in 2018..

After the change

JAB and Maple will collectively own 44% of Keurig Dr Pepper.

Keurig Dr Pepper will continue to trade under the “KDP” ticker following its move to Nasdaq, the company says.