Iceland wants some stores if Co-op buys Somerfield
Iceland keen to open more stores this year
Retailer Iceland has confirmed it wants to acquire as many as 30 Somerfield stores left over following the expected acquisition by the Co-operative Group.
Manchester-based Co-op is expected to announce later this summer that it will buy Somerfield in a deal rumoured to be worth between £2bn and £2.5bn, but it will have to off load some of them because they don’t fit its convenience format and because competition laws are unlikely to allow it to keep as many as it wants.
Following revelations earlier this year that the big four supermarkets, including Asda and Tesco, were also eyeing up some of the stores, Iceland executive Malcolm Walker has now said he would “like to pick up a few crumbs.”
Last year, Iceland, which is based in Deeside, Wales, opened 10 stores, and Walker said he wants to top that this year. “It’s difficult finding stores, so if we can buy a batch of between 20 and 30 of the Somerfield shops, then we would definitely look at that,” he told the industry newspaper Retail Week.
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