Morrisons has turned down a £5.52 billion offer to sell to an American private equity firm.
The supermarket chain confirmed it has received a “unsolicited, highly conditional non-binding” proposal of 230p a share.
The group said in a statement:
“The board of Morrisons evaluated the conditional proposal together with its financial adviser, Rothschild & Co, and unanimously concluded that the conditional proposal significantly undervalued Morrisons and its future prospects.
” Accordingly, the board rejected the conditional proposal on 17 June 2021.”
The cash bid came from Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) in New York.
Shares in Morrisons, which are down 5.5 per cent over the last year, closed on Friday at 182p, valuing the group at £4.33bn.