Waitrose grabs Safeway stores

By ROBERT LEA
Updated:

 

UPMARKET supermarkets group Waitrose has picked up 19 of the 52 stores that Morrisons is being forced to sell off as a result of its £3bn takeover of Safeway.

The price has not been disclosed but will be in excess of the £158m at which they are valued on Morrisons' books.

Waitrose chief executive Steven Esom said the group was able to do the deal after raising £250m last year from HFC Bank in a transaction over customer account cards.

It is the single largest acquisition by Waitrose and its parent, the John Lewis Partnership.

Not only does it add to Waitrose's portfolio of 144 stores, but at a stroke it adds 20% more selling space across the chain and takes it in to new territories in the north of England. Up to now it had never been north of Newark.

The deal follows the acquisition of 11 stores from Somerfield in 2000, part of an expansion that has added 30 sites in the last five years. The move also means that some pockets of the South East get a Waitrose for the first time.

Safeway stores in Fulham, Farnham in Surrey, Worthing in Sussex and Dartford, Kent will all be converted to the Waitrose brand.

Esom said: 'The acquisition fills in gaps in our coverage or adds to our presence in other areas. We have been trying to get into the north of England for the last three or four years.'

Under the terms of Morrisons' takeover of Safeway, it has to divest 52 stores before 8 September.

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