Premier Inn owner Whitbread said it has completed a programme to return £2.5 billion to shareholders after it sold its Costa Coffee chain to Coca-Cola last year.
Whitbread said £2 billion is being returned to shareholder via a purchase of its own shares at a price of 4,972p per share in the latest phase of the capital return programme.
The shareholder pay-out comes after the hospitality group completed the £3.9 billion sale of Costa to Coca-Cola last year.
The company said 40,225,261 Ordinary Shares had been successfully tendered by shareholders after the tender was oversubscribed.
The shares will be purchased by Morgan Stanley on Tuesday for 4,972 pence per Ordinary Share, at a total cost of £2 billion. The number of Ordinary Shares successfully tendered represents approximately 21% of the Issued Ordinary Share Capital of the Company.
Under the already completed first phase, £482 million of Ordinary Shares had already been repurchased.
