Sainsbury's looks forward after bid collapse – Fishupdate.com

Sainsbury’s looks forward after bid collapse Published:  11 April, 2007

J Sainsbury plc has said it is now looking to the future following the decision today by the consortium comprising CVC, Blackstone and TPG not to proceed with an offer for the share capital of Sainsbury’s.

The consortium announced on 2 February that it was in the preliminary stages of assessing Sainsbury’s. Following this announcement, the consortium made a number of proposals to the Board, all of which were subject to certain pre-conditions.

A statement issued by J Sainsbury plc today said: “The key pre-conditions were outside the control of the Board and related to the consortium’s proposed financing structure. The Board explored with the consortium whether the key pre-conditions attached to the proposals were capable of being satisfied or could be revised, but the consortium concluded that this was not possible. As a result, the consortium decided to cease discussions.

“The company is delivering an improving performance with a strong management team and its recovery is already well established. This has been further demonstrated in the recent trading update for the 12 weeks to 24 March 2007 where like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, were up 5.9 per cent, resulting in the ninth consecutive quarter of like-for-like sales growth.

“Looking forward the Board believes that Sainsbury’s has great potential and it is committed to completing its Making Sainsbury’s Great Again recovery plan.”

Sainsbury’s will report its Preliminary results on 16 May 2007.