Coca‑Cola revives effort to sell Costa Coffee after earlier auction fell short
Coca‑Cola is restarting the sale of its UK coffee chain Costa after a prior auction in late 2025 failed to meet the price it sought. The company bought Costa in 2018 for about $5.1 billion and now faces a potential buyer walking away over valuation and strategic fit. Costa runs about 2,700 stores in the UK and Ireland and employs roughly 20,000 people. Recent results show an operating profit of £20 million in 2025 after losses in the preceding years.
Why it matters
The company says a successful divestiture would let it reallocate capital to higher‑growth beverage categories; analysts note the difficulty of finding a buyer at the desired price could keep the chain on the balance sheet longer.
Key facts
- 1Coca‑Cola acquired Costa Coffee in 2018 for $5.1 billion. finance.yahoo.com
- 2A sale process was opened in late 2025 but was shut down after bids fell below the company’s expectations. finance.yahoo.com
- 3The sale process has been reopened after the earlier auction failed. finance.biggo.com
- 4A strategic buyer earlier this year withdrew because of valuation and strategic concerns. seekingalpha.com
- 5Costa reported an operating profit of £20 million for the year ending 31 December 2025. finance.biggo.com
- 6Costa posted combined losses of nearly £20 million across 2023 and 2024. finance.biggo.com
Open questions
- Material 2 cites the acquisition price as $5 billion, while other sources list $5.1 billion.
Summary written by AlphAI from 6 of 6 sources. Not investment advice. Figures are as stated by the linked sources.