danny meyer restaurateur and the ceo of the union square hospitality group speaks during an interview on cnbc on the floor of the new york stock exchange october 16 2015 reutersbrendan mcdermid reuters  skadden arps slate meagher  flom and latham  watkins are advising panera brands inc on its plan to go public and merge with shake shack founder danny meyers special purpose acquisition company panera brands which owns the panera bread bakery and cafe chain said on tuesday that it had agreed to merge with blank check company ushg acquisition corp skadden attorneys are advising panera on the transaction the firm said in an email that its team includes mergers and acquisitions partners sean doyle and paul schnell as well as capital markets partners gregg noel and michael hong the company also has recruited mcdermott will  emery for tax advice meanwhile meyer’s spac has teamed up with latham attorneys led by corporate partners ryan maierson gregory rodgers and howard sobel according to a press release panera’s financial advisor on the deal is jpmorgan chase  co and the spac’s is piper sandler  co spacs or blank check companies generally raise funds through an initial public offering to merge with privately held companies and take them public in the panera transaction panera will go public first and then merge with the spac panera bread to go public again in ipo backed by shake shack founders spac