Asda and Sainsbury’s to merge

Advance merger talks between the second and third largest British Supermarket chains Sainsbury and Asda – the UK arm of Walmart in the UK, with a combined group of 2, 800 stores and represent 31.4 per cent of the UK grocery market and put them slightly more than that of market leader Tesco. If this merger goes through, it will be the biggest shake up in UK grocery retailing since Morrisons took over Safeway in 2004.

A statement from J Sainsbury plc confirms the advanced discussions regarding the combination of the Sainsbury’s and Asda’s businesses, a deal worth over £10 billion. The potential tie-up would see the combined business take Tesco head-on.

All the main supermarket chains have been looking to find new sources of growth because there’s not much of it around their own aisles.