Keurig Dr Pepper said Monday it will acquire Dutch coffee group JDE Peet’s for €15.7 billion ($18.4 billion) in cash, the largest European takeover announced in more than two years. The soft-drink maker will pay €31.85 a share, representing roughly a 20 percent premium to JDE Peet’s closing price, and expects the deal to close in the first half of 2026. After completing the purchase, Keurig Dr Pepper plans to split itself into two U.S-listed companies: Beverage Co., which will keep brands such as Dr Pepper, Canada Dry and 7UP, and Global Coffee Co., combining Keurig, Jacobs, L’OR and Peet’s to create what the company calls the world’s largest pure-play coffee business. The separation, to be executed via a spin-off to shareholders by the end of 2026, is projected to generate about $400 million in cost savings over three years. The all-cash transaction will be funded with new borrowings and existing liquidity; Keurig Dr Pepper has lined up bridge financing of up to €16.2 billion and is weighing a European bond sale. Ratings agency S&P Global placed the company on negative credit watch, warning leverage could rise to the mid-five-times range before debt repayment brings it back toward four times within two years of closing. Investment firm JAB Holding, which owns roughly 4.4 percent of Keurig Dr Pepper and about 68 percent of JDE Peet’s, has agreed to tender its shares and will hold nearly 5 percent of each stand-alone company after the spin-off. Keurig Dr Pepper’s shares fell as much as 9 percent on the news, while JDE Peet’s stock jumped on the Amsterdam exchange.