The Co-operative group has entered “exclusive talks” to acquire the UK-based convenience store operator Nisa, the BBC has reported.
The deal is alleged to be worth more than £140 million, and could see Co-op gain a large proportion of the convenience store market.
The move may have been influenced by Tesco’s attempted takeover of the Booker wholesale group, which has thousands of similar shops across the UK, including Londis, Premier, and Budgens.
Nisa snubbed Sainsbury’s offer of £130 million earlier this month. Sainsbury’s, the UK’s second biggest supermarket, said it was pausing takeover talks because of concerns that the competition watchdog would intervene.
It is now understood that the board of Nisa Retail has granted a “period of exclusively” to the Co-op to negotiate a takeover of the member-owned business. Nisa is owned by more than a thousand independent convenience store owners, 70 per cent of whom will have to approve the deal.
Its chairman, Peter Hartley, said it had held “positive” talks with the Co-op in recent weeks about the sale.
A spokesman for the Co-op said: “We can confirm that we’ve entered into a period of exclusivity with Nisa, which will provide the opportunity for us to carry out more detailed due diligence in the coming weeks.”
In a statement to stakeholders, Peter Hartley said: “Should an offer of merit emerge from this process, it will be for you, the members, to decide on whether to accept it. However, it is important to stress, that there is no guarantee that an offer will be forthcoming.
“As you are all aware our business and the convenience sector continue to evolve at pace and the board of Nisa will continue to review serious queries and offers which emerge (within the constraints of any agreed exclusivity period) and which it believes are in the best long-term interest of the members.”