UK grocer Sainsbury's held merger talks with rival Morrisons, reports say

By Reuters News

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  • The talks took place between November 2025 and February this year, the FT report said, adding that talks are no longer active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

Capital.com is an execution-only brokerage platform and the content provided on the Capital.com website is intended for informational purposes only and should not be regarded as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the products or securities to which it applies. No representation or warranty is given as to the accuracy or completeness of the information provided.

The information provided does not constitute investment advice nor take into account the individual financial circumstances or objectives of any investor. Any information that may be provided relating to past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results or performance.

To the extent permitted by law, in no event shall Capital.com (or any affiliate or employee) have any liability for any loss arising from the use of the information provided. Any person acting on the information does so entirely at their own risk.

Any information which could be construed as “investment research” has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such is considered to be a marketing communication.