LONDON, May 5 (Reuters) - Amazon made anunsuccessful informal attempt to buy upmarket Britishsupermarket chain Waitrose late last year, the Sunday Timesnewspaper reported.
Citing an unidentified source, the newspaper said Amazon'svice president of special projects, Ajay Kavan, approached anunnamed director of John Lewis Partnership, the departmentstore-led retail group of which Waitrose is part.
One director had several "enormously informal" discussionswith Amazon in November but John Lewis's chairman, CharlieMayfield, refused to discuss a tie-up further, the newspapersaid.
The paper also quoted Mayfield denying on Saturday thatthere had been an approach.
"These times are ripe for speculation, but there has been noapproach to the partnership by Amazon regarding Waitrose, andnor would I expect there to be," Mayfield said.
Britain's retail sector was rocked last week when it emergedthat Sainsbury's was seeking to take control ofWalmart's Asda unit for around 7.3 billion pounds ($10billion), a move that will create Britain's biggest supermarketif approved by regulators.
Amazon bought Whole Foods, an upmarket U.S.-focusedsupermarket, for $13.4 billion in mid-2017.(Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
