Move also raises concerns that private equity could buy up other UK supermarket groups
An unsolicited £5.5bn private equity bid for Morrisons, swiftly rejected by the supermarket chain, could spark a bidding war for Britain’s fourth biggest grocer and has raised concerns that other supermarket groups could be sold off to private equity.
On Saturday night Morrisons said it had rebuffed a preliminary takeover bid worth just over £5.5bn from the US firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), which had offered to pay 230p a share in cash. Morrisons’ share price closed at 178.45p on Friday, valuing the company at £4.3bn.
