Coca-Cola to buy Costa Coffee chain for $5.1 billion
America's The Coca-Cola Company on Friday announced it is acquiring British coffee chain Costa Coffee from its parent company Whitbread for $5.1 billion (Â£3.9 billion). Whitbread will be seeking shareholder approval for the transaction, expected to take place by mid-October. Whitbread bought Costa, now the UK's biggest coffee chain, for Â£19 million in 1995 when it had only 39 outlets.