UK supermarket group J Sainsbury is expecting to be able to bid for 24 of the 53 Safeway stores that Wm Morrison will have to sell off if it buys Safeway.
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The UK Department of Trade and Industry has cleared the way for Morrison to bid for Safeway, but blocked Sainsbury’s, Wal-Mart’s Asda and Tesco from making a bid for the whole of Safeway. The retailers that were blocked, however, are allowed to bid for a number of the 53 stores that Morrison would have to divest in the event it takes over Safeway.
Peter Davis, chief executive of J Sainsbury, said he expects to bid for most or all of the stores that the Office of Fair Trading allows the company to bid for, reported Reuters.
