LONDON (RockedBuzz via Reuters) – British supermarket Sainsbury’s said on Tuesday it would take full ownership of investment vehicles at the Highbury and Dragon store, paying Supermarket Income REIT £430.9 million ($524.2 million) for its stake by 51%.
Sainsbury’s, Britain’s second-largest grocer after Tesco, has held a 49% stake in Highbury and Dragon, which includes the 26-store leasehold properties of Sainsbury’s, since it was created in 2000.
The deal will involve Sainsbury’s purchasing the properties of 21 stores which will continue to be operated as Sainsbury’s supermarkets.
The remaining five stores will be sold by Sainsbury’s, with four of them re-leasing them.
Sainsbury’s also agreed to fully fund Highbury and Dragon’s bond redemptions of £170.5m on 20 March and £130.4m on 13 July.
It said that the acquisition and redemption of the bonds would be funded by cash resources and an unsecured term structure.
Shares of Sainsbury’s, which trades from over 600 supermarkets and over 800 convenience stores, are up 17% so far in 2023.
($1 = 0.8220 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey, editing by Paul Sandle)
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