Starbucks Corp. has asked its adviser Houlihan Lokey to assess interest for its UK operations, the Times reported Saturday.
The coffee chain continues to “evaluate strategic options” for its company-owned international operations, the newspaper reported, without specifying how it obtained the information.
A Starbucks spokesperson told Bloomberg it “is not in a formal sale process for the company’s UK business.”
The UK is Starbucks’ largest market in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. As of last year, it had 1,000 stores in Britain, with 297 company-owned and 703 run by licensees, the company said in a financial report for the fiscal year ending