Bestway Group, which owns c-store chain Costcutter, has taken a £200m stake in Sainsbury’s.
The private family-owned group, which claims to be the seventh-largest in the UK, made the announcement on Friday morning.
In a statement, the wholesaler said it intended to hold shares totalling 80,792,512 (equating to £193m) for “investment purposes”.
There were no plans to make an offer to take over the supermarket giant, it added.
The group, which has a turnover of £4.5bn, said it might look to make further market purchases of Sainsbury’s shares from time to time, subject to availability and price.
Under rule 2.8 of the Takeover Code, the multinational retail group – whose business spans the wholesale, pharmacy, real estate, cement and banking sectors – would be prohibited from announcing an offer for Sainsbury’s and from taking any other actions for a period of six months.
Bestway employs 28,000 people across the UK, Pakistan and the Middle East.
Sainsbury’s said: “We note the announcement made this morning by Bestway Group stating that it is not considering an offer for the company. We will engage with Bestway Group in line with our normal interactions with shareholders.”
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