LONDON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Shares in British supermarket
group Sainsbury's rose as much as 3.7% on Monday on
hopes SoftBank's Fortress Investment, which lost out in
the auction for Morrisons, may turn its attention to an
even bigger player in UK grocery.
Sainsbury's stock was up 4.2 pence at 288.9 pence at 0858
GMT, valuing the business at 6.7 billion pounds ($9.1 billion).
Fortress was defeated in Saturday's shootout for Morrisons,
Britain's No. 4 supermarket group, bidding 286 pence a share - a
penny less than rival Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.
However, managing partner Joshua A Pack signalled Fortress
remained interested in UK assets.
"The UK remains a very attractive investment environment
from many perspectives, and we will continue to explore
opportunities to help strong management teams grow their
businesses and create long-term value," he said in a statement.
A spokesperson for Fortress declined to comment on
Sainsbury's, which trails only market leader Tesco in
UK grocery sales.
Sainsbury's had no immediate comment.
Shares in Sainsbury's are up 28% this year, buoyed by bid
speculation.
That started in April when Czech billionaire Daniel
Kretinsky raised his stake in Sainsbury's to just under 10% and
has been fuelled by the bid battle for Morrisons and signs CEO
Simon Roberts's "food first" strategy is starting to work.
($1 = 0.7381 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey, editing by Ed Osmond)
