Sainsbury's said to have held merger talks with Morrisons

(Sharecast News) - Sainsbury's reportedly held talks this year with private equity-owned rival Morrisons over a potential multibillion-pound deal. According to the Financial Times, which cited people familiar with the matter, preliminary talks over a combination between the companies took place between November 2025 and February this year before Sainsbury's decided to walk away. There are no active talks between the two sides, although people close to the situation did not rule out negotiations restarting in the future.

A combination between the two would form a grocery business with a 23.6% market share, narrowing the gap to Tesco, which controls 27.8% of the market, according to Worldpanel by Numerator. However, the FT said Sainsbury's would almost certainly be required to sell stores to gain approval for any deal, which would be closely scrutinised by the Competition and Markets Authority.

In 2019, the CMA blocked Sainsbury's attempt to buy Asda for £7.3bn on the basis that it would result in a loss of competition and higher prices for customers.

At 1432 BST, Sainsbury's shares were 0.1% higher at 323.70p.