William Morrison has identified the location of four of the 52 stores it is required to sell as a condition of its takeover of Safeway, which reached its conclusion yesterday after a 14-month battle.
They are existing Morrisons in Ripon, Chester, Southport and Bramley where the Safeway outlet will be kept in each town. A question mark still exists over whether Morrison will retain 138 Safeway stores that have less than 15,000 sq ft (1,394 sq m) of space. The initial plan is to rebrand them Safeway Compact.
The enlarged company becomes Britain’s fourth largest supermarket chain with a market capitalisation of £6.5bn. It will have 554 stores after selling the 52 outlets stipulated by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.
References: Financial Times 09/03/04 page 20 (Observer), page 24, page 48 (FT Markets – London), The Times (Tabloid) 09/03/04 page 46 (Need to know), page 47, The Daily Telegraph 09/03/04 page 27, The Independent
