The FTSE 100 neared a six-year high yesterday after a trio of private equity groups announced they were considering a £9bn bid for Sainsbury’s, the UK’s third largest supermarket chain.
CVC, Blackstone and Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts, have yet to approach Sainsbury’s directly but such a move would be Europe’s biggest ever leveraged buy-out.
Sainsbury’s property portfolio is central to the consortium’s interest. It has hired DTZ to evaluate the estate with the aim of carrying out a sale-and-leaseback on the holdings, which analysts believe could be worth more than £7.5bn.
The Sainsbury’s estate could either be sold to a property investor or floated as a tax efficient real estate investment trust.
The estate could also be refinanced again.
Financial Times 03/02/07 page 15, Daily Telegraph 03/02/07 page 31, The Times 03/02/07 page 52, The Independent 03/02/07 page 49
