Supermarket chain Morrisons accepts £6.3bn offer from Fortress-led group

British supermarket chain Morrison Supermarkets (Morrisons) has accepted a takeover bid of £6.3 billion ($8.7 billion) from a group led by Fortress Investment Group, a subsidiary of Japan’s SoftBank Group.

Joining Fortress Investment in the proposal are Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Koch Real Estate Investments.

Shareholders of Morrisons will be offered 254 pence a share, which is made up of 252 pence in cash and a cash dividend of 2 pence.

The offer from the Fortress Investment-led group comes on top of the £5.52 billion bid from Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), which was rejected by Morrisons last month.

British supermarket chain Morrisons accepts £6.3bn offer from Fortress-led group. Photo courtesy of Ian Rainey / Morrison’s – Kilmarnock / Wikipedia.org / CC BY-SA 2.0

Andrew Higginson – Morrisons chairman said: “We have looked very carefully at Fortress’ approach, their plans for the business and their overall suitability as an owner of a unique British food-maker and shopkeeper with over 110,000 colleagues and an important role in British food production and farming.

“It’s clear to us that Fortress has a full understanding and appreciation of the fundamental character of Morrisons.”

Fortress Investment had previously made four offers to Morrisons, starting with a price of 220 pence per share in May 2021.

Founded in 1899, Morrisons had a store count of nearly 500 across the UK.