Rival bid likely for Morrisons as CD&R mulls options

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jul 22, 2021

The original private equity bidder for Morrisons, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), is mulling another bid after its original £5.5 billion offer was quickly turned down.

That’s according to The Times and means a bid battle for the ownership of the fourth-largest UK supermarket chain could happen after all.

That possibility had seemed to recede as Morrisons, which operates the Nutmeg clothing brand, had already recommended a £6.3 billion bid from US investment firm Fortress, while another potential solo bidder said it wouldn’t make a bid. Instead, Apollo said it’s in talks to join the Fortress consortium. 

This would give the group extra firepower if CD&R does manage to top the £6.3 billion price.

Shareholders will vote on the Fortress offer on August 16, Morrisons said on Thursday, with a court meeting and a general meeting of shareholders to be held on that day.

Morrisons also said that Fortress has given assurances regarding the firm’s pension schemes.

There’s still been no news of Amazon’s views in all this as the US e-tail giant has a major supply deal with the UK firm and has long been rumoured to be a potential bidder for the firm.

Although the smallest of the big four UK supermarkets, Morrisons has been expanding recently and its Nutmeg brand has been a key part of this as supermarket fashion labels have grown their share of the UK clothing market generally.