UK grocer Sainsbury's held merger talks with rival Morrisons, reports say
UK grocer Sainsbury's held merger talks with rival Morrisons, reports say Oct 5 (Reuters) - Sainsbury's SBRY.L, Britain's second-largest grocer, held talks with smaller rival Morrisons about a merger earlier this year, according to media reports on Monday.
The companies were considering a potential multibillion-pound deal before Sainsbury's walked away, an FT report said, citing people familiar with the matter
The talks took place between November 2025 and February this year, the FT report said, adding that talks are no longer active
People close to the situation did not rule out negotiations restarting in the future, the FT report said
Spokespeople for both Sainsbury's and US private equity firm-owned Morrisons declined to comment on the report
While Sainsbury's reported slower underlying sales growth in its most recent quarter, Morrisons, the UK's sixth-largest grocer, reported growth in quarterly sales
In 2019, Britain's competition regulator blocked Sainsbury's proposed £7.3 billion takeover of Asda
Morrisons' owner, private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice, would remain open to a tie-up with one of its competitors, Sky News reported, citing retail insiders
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice won an auction to buy Morrisons for £7 billion in 2021, beating a consortium led by SoftBank 9434.T-owned Fortress Investment Group
Shares of Sainsbury's were little changed on Monday and marginally down so far this year
(Reporting by Simone Lobo in Bengaluru, additional reporting by James Davey in London; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
((Simone.Lobo@thomsonreuters.com, +919920570373))