Speaking yesterday at the Retail Week Conference, he said: 'I do not think they [Tesco] should be forced to sell stores that are already trading. But for sites that are not yet developed I think that could be appropriate.'
His comments will intensify the debate over whether the Competition Commission should force Tesco to sell some of its landbank in its final report later this year.
Asked if Tesco was too powerful, King said: 'We think that to have one retailer having more than 50 per cent of the market in more than 50 per cent of the catchments in the UK is a cause for reasonable concern.'
However, King he stressed that he was not in favour of legislation or any measures designed to 'punish success'.
He declined to comment on spiralling speculation that Marks & Spencer or a private equity consortium will make a formal bid for Sainsbury's. '[There is] Nothing whatsoever [I can say]. I am just a company called Sainsbury's and I am trying to run it for 16 million customers,' he said.
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