Retail news round-up: L1 Retail set to receive £800m loan from banks for Holland & Barrett takeover and eBay will launch a price-match guarantee programme.

Banks provide £800m loan for Holland & Barrett takeover

Banks are ready to provide term loans of up to £800m to support L1 Retail’s acquisition of Holland & Barrett, Reuters reported.

Banks such as Citigroup, HSBC and UBS are arranging to finance the debt.

According to sources, the loan will be denominated in sterling and euros.

L1 Retail was not available for comment.

eBay set to launch price-match guarantee programme

eBay is set to launch a price-match guarantee programme for 20,000 products on its UK site to compete with e-tailers such as Amazon and Argos, Drapers reported.

The online auction site will compare prices from six online retailers: Amazon, John Lewis, Currys, Argos, Tesco and Asda.

The company will guarantee that prices for new goods listed in the programme will be the best available online.

The initiative will not require membership and is due to roll out in the UK, along with Germany, France, Italy and Spain.