UK supermarket giant on the brink of £600m deal after 100 stores close | UK | News
Britain’s giant supermarket is to be taken over as part of a £600 million deal. The move comes just weeks after Morrisons confirmed 100 stores would close. Realty Income Corporation, or Realty Inc, is among a small number of parties in talks with Morrisons’ advisers about a transaction.
Although details of the deal have not yet been made public, it is believed the US group could invest £600 million as part of Morrison’s ongoing search for new investors. Although a deal is not imminent, according to Sky News, it is a sign that Morrisons is pressing ahead with a plan to strike a deal with a property consultancy firm that was flagged around six months ago.
The supermarket chain had previously confirmed it would seek a deal as it had been steadily paying down its debts following the CD&R takeover, Sky News reported.
In 2024, the company partnered with investment firm Song Capital, which paid £370 million for the right to generate revenue streams from the chain’s 75 supermarkets for 45 years.
Morrisons previously confirmed the closure of the first of 100 supermarkets that opened less than two years ago. The Morrisons Daily store in Woodley, Reading, closed on Sunday, forcing the closure of a local Post Office. A statement was later released from the store regarding this closure.
Spokesperson for the supermarket giant in question: “The performance of all company-owned stores within our Convenience footprint is subject to ongoing review.
“Having completed the review, we are proposing to make the difficult but necessary decision to close some of these stores over the next few months.
“This process identified a number of stores that were part of the McColl acquisition whose performance had been questioned for a number of years and were loss-making despite corrective measures.”
The company cited “significant cost increases” due to “government policy choices” as the reason for the closures.
