Safeway is believed to be in talks to take a 50% stake in the Northern Irish Wellworth supermarket chain. Safeway could leapfrog Sainsbury’s and Tesco in the province if the bid is successful. The deal could cost between £90m and £100m.
Sainsbury’s faces planning inquiries on three Northern Ireland sites and High Court action forced it to stop building a store at Coleraine. Tesco is looking at another two sites. It has one Metro in Belfast city centre.
- Financial Times 06/02/97 page 19
