With Morrisons already in a bidding war, UK supermarkets are attracting returns-hungry investors
Sainsbury’s could be on the shopping list of private equity outfits as the race to buy Morrisons highlights the attractiveness of the big supermarket chains to investors.
Last week the buyout firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) won the backing of the Morrisons board for its £7bn offer to buy the UK’s fourth largest supermarket chain. That bettered the £6.7bn already on the table from rival suitor Fortress.
After Morrisons, the most obvious target for a financial buyer is Sainsbury’s. The US buyout firm Apollo is taking an “exploratory” look at company, according to the Sunday Times. Apollo has been scouring the industry for targets after being outbid for Asda last year, it said.
Shares in Sainsbury’s have already surged 30% this year on the back of bid speculation. That started in April when the Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský raised his stake in the company to nearly 10%.
However when asked last month if the Sainsbury’s board was in talks with potential suitors its chief executive Simon Roberts said: “If we had anything to update on we would be updating on it.”
