Green steps out of Safeway bid
The retail entrepreneur, Philip Green, has announced that he will not continue his bid for the supermarket chain Safeway.
Mr Green owns BHS and the high street retail group, Arcadia. His decision now paves the way for the Bradford-based supermarket chain, Morrison.
The Competition Commission announced last month that the bid from Morrison would not run any risk of damaging competition and would be allowed to proceed.
Rivals J Sainsbury, Asda parent company Wal-Mart and Tesco all had their bids turned down on the basis that competition in the sector would be put at risk.
As Mr Green has no other interests in the supermarket retail sector, he was not subject to scrutiny by the competition authorities.
Mr Green, under his bid vehicle, Trackdean Investments Ltd, issued a statement saying that he would not proceed with any offer for Safeway. However, if a third party was to announce an intention to join with a bid, Mr Green might re-enter the race.
The Trade and Industry Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, the Competition Commission and the Office of Fair Trading were concerned that allowing the bid from Asda, J Sainsbury or Tesco would create three main players in the supermarket sector.
They were concerned that this would have a detrimental effect on prices for consumers and the prices charged by suppliers and producers.
Morrisons store base is found predominantly in the North whereas Safeway’s stores are generally found in the South and in Scotland. If the Morrisons bid is completed it would give the company a national presence and put it in direct competition with the three largest players.
On Wednesday Safeway announced that its performance during the second quarter of 2003 had been stable. The company announced that its pre-tax, pre-exceptional first half profit, would be £173 million down from the £187 million last year.
