Britain's 4th largest supermarket chain, Wm Morrison is in talks to sell its high street convenience stores to investment firm Greybull Capital, as it seeks to shift its focus back on core supermarkets. Sources said the company is in negotiations with Greybull, who took over travel business Monarch Group, last year. The sale, if taken forward, will see the firm take the reins of 150 stores that trade under the M Local brand.
However, the nitty-gritties of the take over, such as, how much the group will pay the stores or whether there are guarantees on whether the deal will result in job cuts and closures, remain unclear. The deal comes at a time when the supermarket chain is working on its own turnaround. Greybull will speculatively, provide tens of millions of pounds to fund the take over and provide capital to the working stores. Ever since Morrisons signalled a change in plans, it has been approached by various companies. One of them is believed to be London-based Alteri, an investment firm backed by US private equity giant, Apollo.
The total convenience estate owned by the company includes somewhere between 150 to 160 stores, which generate money £250m and £350m in sales. The take over is anticipated to be quite a coup for Greybull founders who saved Monarch last year from bankruptcy with £125m emergency funds.
