KUALA LUMPUR (March 8): Gapurna Permai Sdn Bhd, a privately held company owned by businessman Tan Sri Mohamad Salim Fateh Din, is bringing the Costa Coffee franchise to Malaysian shores.

In a statement today, Gapurna Permai said it has signed a heads of terms agreement with UK-based Costa Coffee PLC for the appointment of Gapurna Permai as the master franchisee of the coffee chain in Malaysia.

Gapurna Permai director Nor Izzati Mohamad Salim said it is confident that Costa Coffee will be well received by Malaysians.

"Our focus will first be on opening a series of kiosks and coffee boutiques at major transportation hubs and shopping malls around Selangor and Kuala Lumpur in the first year," she said in the statement.

"We can expect Costa Coffee to have exciting brand launch programmes and a robust calendar of activities to engage with their new Malaysian audience in the coming years as they serve up their beautifully crafted signature flat whites for all to enjoy," she added.

"We are delighted to be in this strategic collaboration with a strong partner like Gapurna Permai, who is well equipped with the required knowledge to bringing UK's favourite coffee brand into Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia. This builds towards the fulfilment of Costa's international growth ambitions, but more importantly, it allows us to delight customers around the world with our great handcrafted coffee," said Costa Coffee managing director for the Middle East and Asia Clair Preston-Beer.

Costa Coffee currently operates in 31 countries, with over 2,100 coffee outlets in the UK, over 1200 outlets overseas and 6,000 Costa Express vending facilities.