Coca-Cola Company completes £3.9bn swoop for Costa

Drinks giant The Coca-Cola Company has completed its multi-billion pound acquisition of British coffee shop chain Costa.

The deal, completed this morning (January 3), saw the US firm pay out £3.9bn to buy Costa from restaurant and hotel group Whitbread PLC.

It follows approval from the European Commission, which cleared the sale earlier today.

In a statement, the EU executive said: “The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns because the companies do not sell the same products and the links between their activities are limited.”

Costa Coffee is headquartered in Dunstable, near Luton Airport.

In the 2017/18 year, the company recorded revenues of over £1.29bn, generated across more than 2,400 UK coffee shops.

Coca-Cola revealed its intention to buy Costa in August last year.