Morrisons may become the subject of a hostile takeover bid by mid-July

Morrisons are major contributors to UK charity

Morrisons are major contributors to UK charity Credit: Morrisons Media Centre

ACCORDING to Sky News, supermarket group Morrisons may become the subject of a hostile takeover bid by mid-July.

Within a few hours of Sky News revealing that it had received information that there was a potential takeover bid from US private equity group Clayton, Dubilier & Rice valuing the group at £5.5 (€6) billion, Morrisons issued the following statement;

“The board of Morrisons evaluated the conditional proposal together with its financial adviser, Rothschild & Co, and unanimously concluded that the conditional proposal significantly undervalued Morrisons and its future prospects.

“Accordingly, the board rejected the conditional proposal on 17 June 2021.”

Following up on this information, the Financial Times revealed that under the UK’s takeover rules, the private equity firm must publicly announce full details of its intended bid by July 17 or not progress the matter again for some time.

Morrisons senior management were ‘under the cosh’ at a recent shareholder’s meeting when 70 per cent voted against proposed significant bonuses for a number of executives even though profits were down last year despite rising sales.

As the fourth largest supermarket chain in the UK with a large number of freehold properties and the until recently highly successful Gibraltar branch (which is having difficulty in bringing in certain stock due to Brexit) it appears a likely candidate for takeover especially as it is supplying Amazon with products for its Prime Pantry service.

If nothing happens with Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, giants such as Amazon may just be ready to step in and make their own offer.

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Written by

John Smith

Married to Ophelia in Gibraltar in 1978, John has spent much of his life travelling on security print and minting business and visited every continent except Antarctica. Having retired several years ago, the couple moved to their house in Estepona and John became a regular news writer for the EWN Media Group taking particular interest in Finance, Gibraltar and Costa del Sol Social Scene. Currently he is acting as Editorial Consultant for the paper helping to shape its future development. Share your story with us by emailing newsdesk@euroweeklynews.com, by calling +34 951 38 61 61 or by messaging our Facebook page www.facebook.com/EuroWeeklyNews

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