Coca-Cola Company (KO) was set to hold talks with private equity firm TDR Capital over the weekend to try to save its sale of Costa Coffee from falling through, the Financial Times reported Saturday citing people familiar with the matter.
TDR was selected as Coke's preferred bidder for Costa last week, however, the discussions faltered over the price, according to the sources.
The proposed deal includes Coke retaining a minority stake in Costa, one of the people told FT, adding that the size of the stake could be adjusted to finalize the deal.
Coke acquired Costa from Whitbread in 2018 for 3.9 billion British pounds ($5.22 billion), but the business has since suffered due to high competition and rising costs, according to the report. FT previously reported that Coke wanted to get about 2 billion pounds for Costa.
Other bidders for Costa include Bain Capital's special situations division and Centurium Capital, the people said, adding that the soft drink giant will decide next week if it wants to shelve the sale process altogether.
Coke did not immediately respond to MT Newswires' request for comment on the matter.
(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)
Comments