Coca-Cola explores fresh sale of Costa Coffee, Semafor reports
The renewed push comes months after an earlier attempt to find a buyer collapsed, according to Semafor
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Coca-Cola is again exploring a sale of Costa Coffee, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Semafor, months after a previous sales process faltered. At least one strategic acquirer had considered a deal but walked away over valuation and strategic concerns, Semafor reported. It could not be determined what price Coca-Cola might now seek. The company did not return Semafor's request for comment.
Coca-Cola bought Costa for $5bn in 2018. An earlier attempt to sell the chain was called off in January 2026 after private-equity bidders responded with little enthusiasm, the Financial Times reported, a process in which Semafor said TDR Capital and Bain Capital had been among the firms in late-stage talks. Weeks later, on February 11, Coca-Cola chief financial officer John Murphy said the company had decided to keep Costa fully in its portfolio, with no immediate plans to change that, according to Bloomberg. Murphy said at the time that Costa's business in the UK and Ireland was performing well but that its operations in China had been more difficult than expected.
Costa, which has 2,700 outlets across the UK and Ireland and employs 20,000 people, reported on October 3 that revenue for the prior year rose 5% to £1.3bn and that the chain had returned to operating profit, City A.M. reported. Statutory profit nonetheless fell 7%, to £62m. The chain had lost nearly £20m combined across 2023 and 2024.
A sale at or below the original $5bn price would unwind an eight-year bet on the coffeehouse channel and effectively write off the cost of integrating the chain, at a time when Coca-Cola has spent years narrowing its portfolio toward core beverage brands and away from capital-intensive retail formats. It would also be an acknowledgment that Costa never achieved the scale Coca-Cola had wanted against Starbucks and independent chains in the UK and China.