LONDON – The UK supermarket chain Morrisons has rejected a £5.5 billion (RM31.45 billion) takeover offer from a US private equity group.
Morrisons said in a statement yesterday evening that it rejected a conditional cash offer from US private equity group Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) of 230 pence per share, or just over £5.5 billion.
The offer “significantly undervalued Morrisons and its future prospects,” the statement said.
“Accordingly, the board rejected the conditional proposal on 17 June 2021.”
CD&R, which has until July 17 to announce a firm intention to make an offer under UK takeover rules, said in a statement that there can be “no certainty an offer will be made”.
Morrisons reported last month that first quarter like-for-like sales were up 2.7%, excluding fuel. Online sales grew 113% year-on-year.
It said however that it incurred £27 million in costs related to Covid-19 costs during the first quarter. – AFP, June 20, 2021
