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[blockbuster] COSTA buys out shares in southern China to fight Starbucks to the end?

Published: 2026-04-02 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/04/02, Professional baristas Please follow the Coffee Workshop (Wechat official account cafe_style) at the end of July this year, COSTA completed its largest acquisition in history. After achieving full ownership in China, Starbucks recently began to seek full investment in order to achieve more flexible development in the Chinese market. On October 10, COSTA's parent company, the British Whitbread Group, announced that COSTA would acquire Jiangsu for RMB 310 million.

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At the end of July this year, Starbucks completed the largest acquisition in history and realized wholly-owned in China. Recently, COSTA also began to plot wholly-owned in order to obtain more flexible development in the Chinese market.

On October 10, Whitbread Group, the parent company of COSTA, announced that COSTA acquired the remaining 49% shares of Yueda Casa (Shanghai) Catering Management Co., Ltd.(hereinafter referred to as Yueda Casa), a joint venture company with Jiangsu Yueda Group (hereinafter referred to as Yueda Group) in China, for RMB 310 million. The acquisition will give COSTA a wholly-owned stake in China Southern Market.

Costa's parent company, British hotel and restaurant giant Whitbread, owns Premier Inn, Britain's largest budget hotel chain, and joint-venture brands include Marriott Hotel, TGI Friday Restaurant, Pizza Hut, etc.

COSTA, the UK's largest coffee chain, has been in China since 2006. After that, COSTA and Yueda Group established a joint venture company Yueda Kashi Family to operate 252 COSTA stores in the southern market (including East China, South China and Central and Western China), 93 of which are located in Shanghai.

In northern China (including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and Northeast China), COSTA and Beijing Hualian Group each invested 50% to establish Hualian Coffee Family and operate 168 stores.

The acquisition is only aimed at Yueda Group, a joint venture in the south. COSTA said it would continue to maintain good cooperation with Beijing Hualian Group and jointly expand its business in the northern market.

It is reported that after the transaction is completed, the financial data of China Southern Market will still be consolidated into the financial statements of COSTA and Whitbread Group. The transaction is still subject to approval by the relevant regulatory authorities.

Will Starbucks continue to fight the Chinese market?

COSTA's sole proprietorship is similar to that of its biggest rival Starbucks. Starbucks entered China at the beginning, with Beijing Sanyuan Group, Taiwan Uni-President and Hong Kong Maxim Group established joint ventures to operate. Starbucks bought back shares in the joint venture company after China allowed foreign-owned enterprises to open stores in 2005. In July this year, Starbucks announced that it would acquire the remaining 50% stake in the Star East China market joint venture (Shanghai Unified Starbucks Coffee Co., Ltd.) for about US $1.3 billion in cash, thus realizing direct management of all mainland China stores.

Compared with Starbucks, COSTA has always been slow to respond, but it is full of resilience and has always followed the development trend of China's coffee consumption market. Starbucks earlier set a plan to open 5000 stores in China by 2020, while COSTA set a plan to open 700 stores in China by 2020. The two sides are tit-for-tat and unwilling to lag behind.

In fact, there are many examples of foreign-funded enterprises seizing the Chinese market, such as McDonald's and KFC, Pepsi and Coca Cola. Now the battle between coffee leaders is staged in China.

Domestic coffee brands are not easy to mess with, such as Man Coffee, Pacific Coffee, and many boutique coffee shops are growing rapidly. Can COSTA stand out from the coffee army? What will happen after this acquisition? Please wait and see.

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