Coca-Cola to buy Costa Coffee for £3.9bn

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by Carth

Even the famous Tetley Tea isn't British anymore. . .

No tea is British, even Yorkshire tea. The Selby tea fields are apparently a myth

[Carth]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

When I said that the weakened £ would result in good British companies being acquired by overseas companies people called it Project Fear. We've now seen our largest tech company ARM sold to the Japanese and our most successful coffee retailer sold to the Americans. So fewer dividends and tax receipts flowing to the UK in the future.
This is what taking back control looks like...for the Japanese and Americans!

oh stop it Andrew, this sort of thing has been happening for decades . . . and well you know it. You seem to stop at nothing if it gives you the chance for a Brexit blast

[denphone]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

Losing control Den as the evidence shows.
The Government does have something in mind to tackle the situation but I think it's rather wishy-washy. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44932704

Another one of those political wheezes where they say a lot and then 5 years down the road nothing has come of it..

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Carth

oh stop it Andrew, this sort of thing has been happening for decades . . . and well you know it. You seem to stop at nothing if it gives you the chance for a Brexit blast

I fear this is an uncomfortable truth to have generated such a reaction.

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

I fear this is an uncomfortable truth to have generated such a reaction.

You are talking complete nonsense, large companies have been buying up smaller ones for as long as businesses have existed, just look at Cadbury for a UK example.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Paul M

You are talking complete nonsense, large companies have been buying up smaller ones for as long as businesses have existed, just look at Cadbury for a UK example.

Nope. My suggestion was that it makes it cheaper and therefore more likely to happen. Not that it has never happened in the past which of course it has.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

I fear this is an uncomfortable truth to have generated such a reaction.

Talking nonsense. Takeovers and buyouts of companies, British or otherwise have been happening for decades. It has absolutely nothing to do with Brexit or a weak £.

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by Stephen

Talking nonsense. Takeovers and buyouts of companies, British or otherwise have been happening for decades. It has absolutely nothing to do with Brexit or a weak £.

You seem to have ignored Andrew's last post. A weak pound does make more takeovers by overseas companies likely. One of the many negative Brexit dividends coming our way. Project Reality will be costly lesson.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Stephen

Talking nonsense. Takeovers and buyouts of companies, British or otherwise have been happening for decades. It has absolutely nothing to do with Brexit or a weak £.

My original post could have been better.
British companies have been acquired in the past by overseas companies (and vice versa) but to see two large companies acquired in this time frame (Costa £3.9bn, Arm Holdings £24.3bn) is a significant shift.
Mr K has covered how a weak £ makes UK companies more attractive takeover targets.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

My original post could have been better.
British companies have been acquired in the past by overseas companies (and vice versa) but to see two large companies acquired in this time frame (Costa £3.9bn, Arm Holdings £24.3bn) is a significant shift.
Mr K has covered how a weak £ makes UK companies more attractive takeover targets.

Its not a significant shift Andrew as for many decades it has been happening as my point is would the countries mentioned in a previous post by me let it happen to their major companies and the answer is no.

Seems every thread keeps being dragged back to Brexit. Very tedious.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by denphone

Its not a significant shift Andrew as for many decades it has been happening as my point is would the countries mentioned in a previous post by me let it happen to their major companies and the answer is no.

It's significant in terms of the size of the companies and time period.

China is definitely pretty closed but it's an emerging country so you would expect it to be more closed than the UK.

France is becoming more liberal and the country recently agreed for Alstom to be acquired by GE and Siemens. Lots of famous companies in France are foreign-owned including Renault Trucks (Volvo Trucks of Sweden), Waterman Pens (Newell of USA) and Ciroc Vodka (Diageo of the UK).
Germany has been fairly liberal but after the Chinese started to acquire companies, it has tightened up on non-EU acquirers. https://www.dentons.com/en/insights/...outside-the-eu

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

My original post could have been better.
British companies have been acquired in the past by overseas companies (and vice versa) but to see two large companies acquired in this time frame (Costa £3.9bn, Arm Holdings £24.3bn) is a significant shift.
Mr K has covered how a weak £ makes UK companies more attractive takeover targets.

Cadbury was bought a few years back and that had nothing to do with Brexit or a week £.

Costa would have been bought no matter what. Whitbread had been looking to either spin off as a separate entity or sell it for a while now to focus on Premier Inn.

Also the Chinese have been buying international companies for years.

Originally Posted by Mr K

You seem to have ignored Andrew's last post. A weak pound does make more takeovers by overseas companies likely. One of the many negative Brexit dividends coming our way. Project Reality will be costly lesson.

Do you have evidence to back this up, or is this just made up guesswork ?


There is no evidence of 'brexit' or a 'weak pound' being invloved here, just business dealings ;

In 2018, Whitbread faced pressure from two of its largest shareholders, activist group Elliot Advisers and hedge fund Sachem Head to sell or demerge Costa Coffee, the theory being the individual businesses would be worth much more than as one company. On 25 April 2018, Whitbread announced its intention to fully demerge Costa within two years. Subsequently Coca-Cola announced a deal to acquire the chain.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Stephen

Cadbury was bought a few years back and that had nothing to do with Brexit or a week £.

Costa would have been bought no matter what. Whitbread had been looking to either spin off as a separate entity or sell it for a while now to focus on Premier Inn.

Also the Chinese have been buying international companies for years.

No one is arguing about why Cadbury was acquired or saying that British companies have never been acquired by overseas companies before, it's the fact that two large acquisitions (>£1bn) have come in a short period of time. I agree that the Chinese have been buying overseas companies - they own Volvo Cars, London Taxis and Motorola phones to name a few brands but it's one-way traffic.

The plan was to float Costa Coffee on the London Stock Exchange and not sell it so it would have remained British. The weakened £ following the Brexit vote ($1.45 before the vote, versus $1.30 today) contributed to it being a cheaper potential acquisition for overseas acquirers like Coca-Cola and hence made this outcome more likely.

---------- Post added at 17:22 ---------- Previous post was at 17:20 ----------

Originally Posted by Mr K

No tea is British, even Yorkshire tea. The Selby tea fields are apparently a myth

There is an English tea plantation in Sunny Cornwall!
https://tregothnan.co.uk

---------- Post added at 17:27 ---------- Previous post was at 17:22 ----------

Originally Posted by Maggy J

Seems every thread keeps being dragged back to Brexit. Very tedious.

I'm sorry that you get that impression but if I believe it is connected, I think it's best that I say so and let people discuss the hypothesis.
Having said that, I think this is the only recent thread I think in which the B-word has been raised.