What to Watch: European chip supplier Apple deal, Coca-Cola and Costa, and BMW

Here’s an overview of some key companies and political developments that the Yahoo Finance UK team is monitoring today in Europe:

Dialog Semiconductor signs $600m Apple deal

Shares in German-listed but UK-headquartered Dialog Semiconductor (DLG.F) has been rocketing in trading on Thursday after tech behemoth Apple (AAPL) agreed to buy a portion of the chip maker’s business in a $600m deal.

For 10 years, Apple has used Dialog power management chips to help its devices manage battery life.

Around $300m of that deal will be delivered in cash for the Dialog engineers and offices while the remainder will be a pre-payment to Dialog for supplying chips over the next three years. As part of the deal, Apple will snap up patents and a team of 300 engineers, who mostly work across Dialog offices in Britain, Italy, and Germany.

Coca-Cola/Costa deal gets shareholder approval

Coca-Cola (KO) got the green light from investors to buy the UK coffee chain Costa for $5.1bn (£3.9bn) on Thursday.

UK-based Whitbread (WTB.L), which owns the Costa business, held a shareholder vote this week. On Thursday morning, the company announced that 99% of votes cast were in favour of the deal.

Costa boasts roughly 4,000 retail outlets around the world and has recently been expanding into China. Whitbread bought the Costa chain in 1995 for £19m ($25m) when it had just 39 shops.

The drinks behemoth Coca-Cola, which owns brands including Minute Maid and Smartwater, announced its takeover intentions in late August. It’s pushing to expand into new product categories and provide customers with healthier options.

BMW shares slump

Shares in BMW (BMW.F) were in the red on Thursday morning after the group said it plans to increase its stake in its Chinese joint venture with partner Brilliance Automotive (1114.HK).

In a deal valued at €3.6bn (£3.1bn, $4.1bn), the stake will increase from 50% to 75%. The German carmaker added that the term of the joint venture is to be extended to 2040 from 2028.

“The total yearly production capacity of the BMW Brilliance Automotive plants [in China] will be gradually increased to more than 650,000 units in total from the early 2020s,” said BMW’s chairman Harald Krüger said in a speech in China.

Rumours of the stake increase have swirled since July this year.