Coca‑Cola scraps Costa Coffee sale, FT reports

Jan 14 (Reuters) - ⁠Coca-Cola has ⁠abandoned ‍plans to sell its Costa Coffee chain after offers from ‍private equity firms came in below ​expectations, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

The ​U.S. beverage giant ended talks with remaining bidders in December, halting a months-long auction process, the ​report said, citing two people familiar with the matter.

Reuters could ​not immediately verify the report. Coca-Cola and Costa Coffee ‌did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comments.

Firms in the ​latter stages of talks ⁠included Asda-owner TDR Capital and Bain Capital's special situations fund, ‌which owns Gail's and PizzaExpress, the report said, adding that private equity ‌firms Apollo, KKR and Centurium Capital were involved ‌earlier.

Coca-Cola could revive plans to sell Costa in the medium term, according to the report.

Coca-Cola ‍acquired Costa Coffee in 2018 for an enterprise value of $5.1 ⁠billion to strengthen its position in the global coffee market where it competes with Starbucks and Nestle.

(Reporting by Bipasha Dey in Bengaluru)

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