Sainsbury's has announced that it has purchased 24 stores from the Co-operative Group in the UK, including 22 Somerfield-branded outlets and two Co-operative stores.
The retailer has invested £83m (€93.1m) in the acquisition, with a further £45m (€50.5m) of costs to be incurred when fitting out the new stores. The transaction, the group said, will be funded from existing cash resources and will have a slight impact on 2009/10 earnings.
'We are delighted to acquire these stores which are an excellent addition to our store estate, and we are pleased to welcome 1,400 new colleagues to Sainsbury's,' said group chief executive officer Justin King.
The 24 stores have a net selling area of 21,925m2, including 13 freehold and long leasehold stores comprising 12,170m2.
Completion of the transaction is subject to approval by the Office of Fair Trading, with conversions forecast for completion by May 2009 and store openings planned for the first half of 2009/10.
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