With news of British supermarket chain, Asda signing up an investment bank to look into its bidding prospects for UK food chain Somerfield, strong guesses regarding Asda’s entry into the Somerfield bidding battle seem to be proving right.
The second largest supermarket store after Tesco, Asda has reportedly assigned Lazard with the job of evaluating its offer in the bidding battle and examining ways of strengthening its hold in the British market, according to the paper, Financial Times (FT).
The speculation regarding Asda’s involvement in the Somerfield bid, however, remain hypothetical as no confirmations have been received by Asda in the matter as yet.
Nevertheless, interest from a consortium of private equity firm Apax, Iceland's Baugur, Barclays Capital and the Iranian magnate Robert Tchenguiz, along with competitors, London & Regional and Japanese finance house Nomura, have been making the rounds at the £1bn plus business of Somerfield, which runs the Kwik Save discount chain and owns about 1,300 stores. The shares of Somerfield rose to 198p from 157.25p at the beginning of the year on account of the takeover speculation.
The bidding war apparently triggered off in March when Baugur came over to Somerfield with a proposition of 190 pence a share bid that was soon rejected. Even Somerfield refused to divulge any details about the issue and chose to keep the names of its suitors a secret.
Posted
on : Tue, 26 Apr 2005 00:00 GMT | Business News
By : Chris Rowe
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