Morrisons mulls sale of warehouses and fisheries in £600m deal
Morrisons’ private equity owner is scouting for a buyer for its estate of warehouses, fisheries and food manufacturing hubs in a sale worth more than £600m.
The New York private equity titan is mulling a sale-and-leaseback transaction in an endeavour to power returns from its £7bn takeover of the British grocer, according to a report in The Sunday Times.
Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) is thought to be anticipating a sale of some two dozen assets, with Morrisosn owning nine distribution centres and 20 food manufacturing plants across the Midlands, the north and in Scotland.
Sources told the newspaper the assets were being marketed by BNP Paribas and Knight Frank.
CD&R was given the green light by the competition watchdog for its supermarket sweep at the end of last week.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had provisionally accepted Clayton, Dubilier & Rice’s offer to sell 87 petrol stations in order to address competition concerns.
The watchdog then confirmed it had accepted the undertakings given by the New York private equity titan in relation to its £7bn takeover.
David Potts, Morrisons’ CEO, said: “I am pleased the acquisition has cleared the final regulatory hurdle and we can now work closely with CD&R on the path ahead.
“Following hard on the heels of Covid, the cost of living crisis is another critical period for food retailers in the UK and there is important work ahead of us as we look to help customers and colleagues through these difficult economic times.”