Mubasher: Whitbread’s stock has surged 6.8% to EUR 42.04 on the back of the closure of an acquisition deal with Elliott Advisors, an activist investor.

Elliott Advisors is now holding over 6% stake in the UK-based multinational company.

Having the largest stake in Whitbread, Elliott Advisors wants to demerge the company into Costa Coffee chain and Premier Inn business, BBC World News reported.

Whitbread’s spokeswoman did not give any comment on the deal, whose value was not released either.

"We remain entirely open-minded about the structure of the business and are fully committed to reviewing it on a regular basis at the board level,” commented.

US hedge fund Sachem Head, which owns a 3.4% stake in Whitbread, also urged the London-listed company’s management to split it and sell and leaseback Premier Inn hotel properties.

"Elliott does not necessarily want the properties to be sold the way that more aggressive activists do, they just want two separate companies so they can value hotels,” CEO of Praefinium Partners Alpesh Patel said.