Coca-Cola on Friday said it had agreed to buy global coffee chain Costa from its UK owner Whitbread for £3.9 billion ($5.1 billion).
"Hot beverages is one of the few remaining segments of the total beverage landscape where Coca-Cola does not have a global brand. Costa gives us access to this market through a strong coffee platform," Coca-Cola chief executive James Quincey said in a joint statement.
The deal comes amid eroding consumer demand for conventional carbonated drinks owing to health and obesity concerns in the US and other markets.
Earlier in August, Coca-Cola's fierce rival PepsiCo struck a deal to buy Israeli company SodaStream for $3.2 billion -- in a pitch to consumers concerned also about mounting waste from soda cans and plastics in landfills worldwide. SodaStream makes machines that carbonate home tap water. Meanwhile following pressure from activist shareholders, Whitbread announced in April
that it would spin off Costa, leaving it to concentrate on its hotel chain Premier Inn.
Whitbread was forced to act after US group Elliott became its biggest shareholder with a six percent stake.
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Endy Edeson
@Goodie & Emeka; Business is good and funny. So the owners of Costa want to concentrate on hotel business. I know coca cola will market the product very well this time especially in Africa
