Somerfield could be broken up in a sale
04/03/2008
The Bristol-based supermarket chain Somerfield may be broken up after bids from Asda and the Co-op came in at less than the £2.5bn expected. It has been suggested that the low bids are a strategy to encourage the group to break itself up as it is unlikely that Asda or the Co-op will want to buy all the stores. There are 900 Somerfield stores in total across the UK, with plans to build 250 more. In 2005, Somerfield was sold for £1.1bn to a private equity consortium including Robert Tchenguiz, Apax Partners and Barclays Capital.
