Offer for Dunkin’ Brands Reported

Three private-equity investment firms have jointly bid to buy the parent company of Dunkin’ Donuts and two other restaurant chains that are being sold by France’s Pernod Ricard, two sources involved in the process said Friday.

The equal partners in the bid are Boston-based Bain Capital, the Carlyle Group of Washington and Boston’s Thomas H. Lee Partners, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because their firms did not publicly comment on investment deals before they were finalized.

The consortium submitted a bid for all three properties of Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin’ Brands Inc. on Wednesday, the deadline for bids set by Pernod Ricard, the sources said.

The sources declined to discuss other details of the bid, including the offering price for Dunkin’ Donuts, the smaller Baskin-Robbins ice cream chain and sandwich maker Togo’s.

Media reports also have indicated that another bid for Dunkin’ Brands has been jointly made by the Blackstone Group and Texas Pacific Group, which purchased the Burger King fast-food chain in 2002 as part of an investment group that also included Bain Capital.