Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund is planning to sell off a significant part of its holding in Sainsbury’s, worth about £300m, ending its status as the largest shareholder in the supermarket.
After markets in London closed yesterday, the Qatar Investment Authority revealed it would sell up to 84 million shares in Sainsbury’s to institutional investors in a placing.
The move, being handled by bankers at JPMorgan Cazenove, will shrink its stake in the retailer from 10.5% currently to below 7%.
Following completion of the share sale, Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky will become Sainsbury’s largest shareholder after building up a stake of more than 10% in recent years, while wholesaler Bestway owns just more than 5%.
QIA first invested in Sainsbury’s in 2007 and at one point owned approximately a quarter of the group. The fund has been steadily selling off its holding in Sainsbury’s for the past few years, including a big chunk to Kretinsky. The latest sale will end a near two-decade run as the biggest shareholder in Sainsbury’s.
JPMorgan will also sell a further 14 million Sainsbury’s in a related derivative transaction for the QIA, taking the total placing to about 97.5 million shares.
Sainsbury’s is not party to the placing and will not receive any proceeds from it, according to the statement on the London Stock Exchange.
Shares in Sainsbury’s have performed strongly in 2025, climbing more than 13% so far to 326p. However, the stock plunged 6% this morning as markets reacted to the news.
Last month, Sainsbury’s raised its profit guidance for its current financial year to more than £1bn thanks to ongoing sales momentum. It posted revenues of £15.6bn in the first half to 13 September, up 5.2% on the same period in the year before.
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