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LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares in Home Retail Group PLC, the owner of the Argos catalogue retail business, were cancelled from trading in London on Monday as its takeover by grocer J Sainsbury PLC completed.
Sainsbury's agreed to acquire Home Retail Group for GBP1.20 billion in March following a bidding war against acquisitive South African group Steinhoff International Holdings NV. Steinhoff also unsuccessfully bid for Anglo-French electronics retailer Darty PLC but recently managed to secure itself a deal in the UK with an agreement to buy single-price discount retailer Poundland Group PLC.
Steinhoff pulled out of the bidding for Home Retail just before the bid deadline fell, leaving Sainsbury's the only runner in the race to buy the Argos owner.
Home Retail had previously owned Homebase, the DIY and garden centre chain, but sold this to Australian conglomerate Wesfarmers Ltd in February. This removed a key obstacle to Sainsbury's buying Home Retail, as it had no appetite for Homebase to be included in the deal. Sainsbury's founded Homebase and sold the company off a decade ago.
Sainsbury's was keen on Argos as this will deliver cross-selling opportunities through placing Argos outlets in large Sainsbury's stores where space is currently under-utilised. It will provide Sainsbury's an enlarged customer base for its other products, including financial services.
Shares in Sainsbury's were flat to 246.10 pence on Monday morning.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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