Papa John’s stock dives after Nelson Peltz reportedly won’t bid

Papa John’s shares plunged as much as 14 percent on a report that billionaire Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management has dropped out of an auction of the pizza chain.

While some remaining bidders are interested in taking a stake in the embattled company, none are interested in buying all of it, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Papa John’s shares closed at $51.77, off 10.2 percent.

A source close to a bidding party told The Post last week that the auction had grown quiet, and suitors, at best, were going to make conditional bids.

Papa John’s was hoping to take final bids next week, The WSJ reported.

It remains unclear whether founder John Schnatter would be willing to sell his stake in a sale, causing some uncertainty in the process as suitors did not want to have him as a minority partner, a source said.

Schnatter — who stepped down as CEO in January after criticizing the NFL’s handling of the kneeling controversy, and who gave up his chairman role in May after using the N-word on a conference call — still owns 30 percent of Papa John’s shares.

If Schnatter rolled over his stake in what would then be a private company, he would likely want an active role, the source said.

Schnatter would like to buy the company himself, but Papa John’s has put in a poison pill stopping him for acquiring a bigger stake on the open market, and banks are reluctant to fund a Schnatter buyout, two lending sources said.

A bulge bracket bank said it was not interested in underwriting just Schnatter in an LBO despite his significant equity stake, a source close to the situation said.

Papa John’s and Schnatter declined to say whether Schnatter would be forced to sell his stake in a sale.

Trian did not return calls. Papa John’s declined comment.