Forget Coke, we now serve coffee

London – Coca-Cola has agreed to buy the world’s second largest coffee chain, Costa, from Britain’s Whitbread Plc for £3.9 billion (R74 billion), opening a new front in its push away from traditional sodas.

Whitbread said yesterday the deal, which will give Coke almost 4 000 coffee outlets in the UK and across Europe, had been agreed unanimously by the board as in the best interests of shareholders.

Whitbread, which had been in the process of demerging its coffee business from its hotel chain, acquired Costa in 1995 for £19 million when it had only 39 shops.