Pressure on Wm Morrison rises on buyout talks
SIR KEN Morrison said yesterday that he had no knowledge of any talks between his family’s trusts and private equity firms to take Morrisons private.
According to a Bloomberg report yesterday, the Morrison family has approached several private equity firms including Apax, Carlyle Group and CVC Capital with the view of taking Britain’s fourth largest supermarket out of the spotlight.
But Sir Ken, 82, who is life president of the grocer, told City A.M yesterday he was unaware of talks between private equity houses and the family’s trusts, which owns a nine per cent stake and is now run by younger members of the family.
A spokesperson for Apax denied the speculation and said it had not been contacted, nor approached by the family. Carlyle and CVC were unavailable for comment.
Shares in Morrisons, which have fallen 18 per cent over the last six months, rose as much as 5.4 per cent yesterday before closing up 0.25 per cent.
The talks come at a tough time for Morrisons, which issued a profit warning in January amid falling sales over the Christmas period. The company is trying to catch up with its competitors after years of operating without an online presence.
Shore Capital analysts said given Morrisons’ trading weakness “such headlines and potential initiatives are to be expected to some degree at this time, in our view”.
Morrisons declined to comment.