Reports have just started coming in that Morrisons has recently accepted an offer from Clayton, Dubilier & Rice for a takeover. The reports reveal Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R’s), a private equity group from the United States has made an offer of taking over Morrisons.
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice reportedly made an offer worth £7 billion for the acquisition of Morrisons. At the time of writing, the £7 billion figure translates to $9.54 billion.
According to sources, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice was not the only company that made the offer for the acquisition of Morrisons. Another major firm known as Fortress Investment Group made an offer for the acquisition of Morrisons. However, the bidding offer made by the Fortress Investment Group was not much to catch the attention of Morrisons.
Morrisons is one of the oldest and largest chain stores in the United Kingdom. It has been around since 1899 and started off as a small egg and butter merchant. While there were many bidders coming in with their offers, only two major bidders CD&R’s and Fortress Investment Group made it to the end of bidding.
The final bid place by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice was 285 pence per share. On the other hand, the bidding placed by the Fortress Investment Group was 272 pence per share. The 272 pence per share offer meant that Fortress Investment Group was willing to pay £6.7 billion for the takeover.
After the acquisition of Morrisons by CD&R’s, the enterprise value of Morrisons would be much higher than the amount it bid initially. Once the debt owed by the supermarket chain is added, £9.7 billion would be the final enterprise value CD&R’s would behandling.
It has been revealed that the takeover has been approved by the board of Morrison unanimously and there is no opposition. Morrisons is currently the fourth-largest grocery that has been around in the United Kingdom for more than a century.
The major and largest grocers over it include Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Asda. However, these companies have not yet been taken over by anyone. Therefore, Morrisons is currently one of the most high-profile takeovers that have taken place in the United Kingdom so far.
According to sources, it was back in June of 2021, when CD&R’s had expressed its intentions of taking over Morrisons. As the bidding process took place, there were back and forth bids from CD&R’s and other investment companies to acquire Morrisons.
Initially, CD&R’s had made an offer that was worth just £5.52 billion, which was rejected by Morrisons right away. Since the takeover, the share prices of Morrisons have experienced a significant rise. In the last 24-hours, the share prices for Morrison have experienced over a 4% increase.
