Morrisons to be sold off at auction this weekend in £7 billion takeover battle

The fight to buy Morrisons will be taken to auction this weekend, the supermarket chain has confirmed. 

Private equity giants Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) and Fortress Investment Group have been battling it out for the supermarket for the last few months, but will go head-to-head in a one-day auction this weekend on October 2nd to settle the matter for good.

CD&R started its pursuit of Morrisons, which is Britain’s fourth largest supermarket, back in June, making it the first company to offer a deal.

Fortress then offered a massive £6.3 billion a month later in July.

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However, shareholders felt offer was too low and Fortress, owner of Majestic Wines, returned a month later with an increased offer of £6.7billion, which the board accepted. But not one’s to back down, CD&R returned with an increased bid of £7billion later that month, which the board accepted.

Given that neither bidder had declared its offer final, however, the parties have since agreed to partake in an auction process to settle the outcome.

But what will the sale mean for the future of Morrisons?

While experts have warned that Morrisons could be ‘broken up’ if sold, CD&R said it ‘will support Morrisons in further building on these strengths’ and suggested it had no plans to sell off its freehold stores, according to The Mirror.

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Morrisons was founded as an egg and butter market in Bradford by William Morrison in 1899. It grew into a full-fledged supermarket and stayed local to the North of England until it bought out the former Safeway stores in 2004.

Now it has almost 500 supermarkets across England, Wales and Scotland, and even one in Gibraltar.

As well as the supermarkets, Morrisons also owns petrol stations, food factories and depots, and employs over 100,000 members of staff.