Sainsbury’s is poised to acquire convenience store chain Nisa with the latter close to signing a deal that bans it from seeking any other potential bidders.
Nisa revealed last week that was looking to demutualise and seek a grocery buyer in light of Tesco’s plans to merge with grocery wholesaler and convenience store operator Booker.
According to The Telegraph, Nisa — which buys and distributes on behalf of more than 2500 independently-owned stores around the UK — has been working with bankers at Lazard and has narrowed the list of potential buyers to Sainsbury‘s and the Co-op.
READ MORE: What does the Tesco-Booker merger mean for convenience stores?
However, Sainsbury’s has resportedly offered a more attractive bid than the Co-op and Nisa is now set to sign an an exclusivity deal with the Big 4 retailer that temporarily bans it from pursuing other bidders.
The Telegraph reports that Sainsbury‘s offering £2500 a share, valuing Nisa at £130 million.
Due to the structure of Nisa’s mutually-owned business, any offer for a takeover can only be approved after the board recommends it and after more than 50 per cent of its shopkeepers agree to it.
Sainsbury’s plans for a takeover comes less than a year after its £1.4 billion acquisition of Argos parent company Home Retail Group was finalised.
Meanwhile, the proposed Tesco-Booker merger is currently under investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority.
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