Co-op reveals more store sell-offs

COMPLETION of the Co-operative Group’s £1.5bn takeover of Somerfield edged nearer still today after the Office of Fair Trading said it would not refer the deal to the Competition Commission.

The OFT said it accepted an undertaking from The Co-operative to sell 133 stores in locations where there was a potential competition issue.

John Fingleton, chief executive  of the OFT said: ‘This divestment package ensures that consumers will continue to enjoy strong competition in local grocery markets across the UK, while at the same time allowing a strategically important and likely pro-competitive merger in the UK grocery sector to go ahead.”

The Manchester-based Co-op now expects to complete its record deal in March.

It said today it had now found buyers for 66 more of the 133 stores it is required to sell, taking the total to 90.

Morrisons has previously announced that it is buying 34 shops. while Tesco is acquiring seven, Waitrose 13, and Musgrave and Spar six shops each.

A spokesman for The Co-operative Group said: “There is considerable interest in the stores that the OFT has required us to sell.

“We are making excellent progress and this keeps us on track to complete the deal in the first quarter of this year.”

The Co-op said it would reveal the total value of the store disposals at the end of the process.