Ruling Expected to OK Bid for British Safeway
From Bloomberg News
British regulators probably will allow William Morrison Supermarkets, the country’s fifth-largest supermarket chain, to make a bid for Safeway, Britain’s No. 4 chain in a ruling that may come as early as this week, investors said.
Morrison, which controls 6% of the British market, in January offered $3.7 billion in stock for Safeway to compete with Tesco, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s Asda and J Sainsbury.
Morrison’s shares gained 1.8% on Thursday after the company said first-half profit rose 10%, giving the company a value of $5.6 billion. Sales at stores open at least a year rose 9%.
