Costcutter owner Bestway Group has announced this morning it has taken a 3.45% stake in Sainsbury’s and may buy further shares in the supermarket.
The wholesaler has purchased 80,792,512 shares in Sainsbury’s, which represents an investment of around £193m.
The group, which is a diversified multinational family-owned business across wholesale, pharmacy, real estate, cement and banking with turnover in excess of £4.2bn, does not intend to make a takeover offer for Sainsbury’s.
It intends to hold its shares in Sainsbury’s for investment purposes and “looks forward to supporting the executive management team”.
However, it said it would look to make further market purchases of Sainsbury’s shares from time to time, subject to availability and price, and invited institutional investors interesting in selling shares to contact the group.
As Bestway said no takeover offer will be made, it is prohibited from announcing an offer for Sainsbury’s (and from taking certain other actions) for a period of six months.
In a short statement, 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.”
Sainsbury’s shares have jumped 5.2% on the news to 251.8p.
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