11th Apr 2007 15:27
Sainsbury(J) PLC11 April 2007 11 April 2007 Response to Statement from CVC Capital Partners (CVC), The Blackstone Group International Limited (Blackstone) and Texas Pacific Group (TPG) J Sainsbury plc has noted the decision today by the consortium comprising CVC,Blackstone and TPG not to proceed with an offer for the share capital ofSainsbury's. The consortium announced on 2 February that it was in the preliminary stages ofassessing Sainsbury's. Following this announcement, the consortium made anumber of proposals to the Board, all of which were subject to certainpre-conditions. The key pre-conditions were outside the control of the Boardand related to the consortium's proposed financing structure. The Boardexplored with the consortium whether the key pre-conditions attached to theproposals were capable of being satisfied or could be revised, but theconsortium concluded that this was not possible. As a result, the consortiumdecided to cease discussions. The company is delivering an improving performance with a strong management teamand its recovery is already well established. This has been furtherdemonstrated in the recent trading update for the 12 weeks to 24 March 2007where like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, were up 5.9 per cent, resulting inthe ninth consecutive quarter of like-for-like sales growth. Looking forward the Board believes that Sainsbury's has great potential and itis committed to completing its Making Sainsbury's Great Again recovery plan. Sainsbury's will report its Preliminary results on 16 May 2007. Enquiries: Investor Relations MediaElliot Jordan Pip Wood+44 (0) 20 7695 4931 +44 (0) 20 7695 6127 Notes (1) Certain statements made in this announcement are forward looking statements. Such statements are based on current expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any expected future events or results referred to in these forward looking statements. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Sainsbury's