UK grocer Sainsbury's held merger talks with rival Morrisons, reports say

Oct 5 (Reuters) - Sainsbury's, Britain's second-largest grocer, held talks with smaller rival Morrisons about a merger earlier this year, according to media reports on Monday.

• The companies were considering a potential multibillion-pound deal before Sainsbury's walked away, an FT report said, citing people familiar with the matter

• The talks took place between November 2025 and February this year, the FT report said, adding that talks are no longer active

• People close to the situation did not rule out negotiations restarting in the future, the FT report said

• Spokespeople for both Sainsbury's and US private equity firm-owned Morrisons declined to comment on the report

• While Sainsbury's reported slower underlying sales growth in its most recent quarter, Morrisons, the UK's sixth-largest grocer, reported growth in quarterly sales

• In 2019, Britain's competition regulator blocked Sainsbury's proposed £7.3 billion takeover of Asda

• Morrisons' owner, private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice, would remain open to a tie-up with one of its competitors, Sky News reported, citing retail insiders

• Clayton, Dubilier & Rice won an auction to buy Morrisons for £7 billion in 2021, beating a consortium led by SoftBank-owned Fortress Investment Group

• Shares of Sainsbury's were little changed on Monday and marginally down so far this year

(Reporting by Simone Lobo in Bengaluru, additional reporting by James Davey in London; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)