Under the terms of the offer, Morrisons Shareholders will be entitled to 254 pence per Morrisons share
UK supermarket chain Morrisons has accepted a £6.3bn takeover bid from US investment firm, Fortress Investment Group. This morning, the company’s directors unanimously approved the bid.
It is now waiting for shareholder approval before proceeding.
Under the terms of the offer, Morrisons Shareholders will be entitled to receive 254 pence for each Morrisons share.
Last month, Morrisons rejected an approach from a different US private equity company with an offer worth more than £5.5bn, stating that they had significantly undervalued the business.
Currently, Morrisons has nearly 500 shops and more than 110,000 staff across the UK, and their jobs are currently unaffected by the offer.
Commenting on the Offer, Andrew Higginson, Chairman of Morrisons, said: The Morrisons Directors believe that the Offer represents a fair and recommendable price for shareholders which recognises Morrisons’ future prospects. Morrisons is an outstanding business and our performance through the pandemic has further improved our standing and enabled us to enter the discussions with Fortress from a hard-won position of strength.
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, he said.
It’s clear to us that Fortress has a full understanding and appreciation of the fundamental character of Morrisons. This, together with the very clear intentions they have set out today, has given the Morrisons Directors confidence that Fortress will support and accelerate our plans to develop and strengthen Morrisons further, he added.
Joshua A. Pack, Managing Partner of Fortress, said: We believe in making long-term investments focused on providing strong management teams with the necessary flexibility and support to execute their strategy in a sustainable and value enhancing manner.
He added: We fully recognise Morrisons’ rich history and the very important role Morrisons plays for colleagues, customers, members of the Morrisons Pension Schemes, local communities, partner suppliers and farmers. We are committed to being good stewards of Morrisons to best serve its stakeholder groups, and the wider British public, for the long term.