(Reuters) – Shares in Sainsbury’s jumped 11% to a three-year high on Monday after a report over the weekend said private equity firms could launch bids worth more than 7 billion pounds ($9.6 billion) for Britain’s second-largest supermarket.
Private equity firms, including New York-based Apollo Global Management, were circling Sainsbury’s, the Sunday Times newspaper reported https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bidders-train-guns-on-sainsburys-sh8228nst.
Apollo’s interest in Sainsbury’s was exploratory and the private equity firm remained in talks to join the Fortress-led consortium bidding for Britain’s fourth-largest grocer Morrisons, the report said.
Sainsbury’s did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
($1 = 0.7327 pounds)
(Reporting by Aditi Sebastian and Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Edmund Blair)