Coca Cola in Talks with Bankers to Sale Costa Coffee Biz

US-based beverage giant, Coca-Cola Co., is in talks with Lazard, a global financial advisory and asset management firm to review options, including a potential sell of the British coffee chain, Costa Coffee, that it acquired in 2018 for over $5 billion, reported Sky News.

The American beverage manufacturer has reportedly held discussions with a small number of potential bidders for the Costa sale, including private equity firms.

As per reports, Coca-Cola is set to receive the indicative offers for the Costa Coffee sale in early Autumn, but the report also mentions that the sale is not a definite one as both Coca Cola and Costa didn’t respond to the queries sent by the agency.

Coca-Cola shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) closed 0.75% lower at $70.13 after Friday's Wall Street session. However, the shares gained 0.10% in the after-hours trading session of the US markets, reported Reuters. 

In 2018, Coca-Cola acquired Costa Coffee for more than $5 billion, aiming at strengthening its position in the global coffee market, competing with the likes of Starbucks and Nestle.

A British coffeehouse chain Costa operates more than 2700 outlets in the UK and Ireland and about 1300 outlets across the globe in over 50 countries.