Sainsbury's Coupe says exit not due to failure of Asda deal

LONDON, Jan 28 (Reuters) - The boss of British supermarket
group Sainsbury's, Mike Coupe, said he was not stepping
down in May because of his failure to buy rival Asda last year.

Sainsbury's agreed 7.3 billion pound ($9.6 billion) deal for
Walmart owned Asda was blocked by Britain's competition
regulator in April.

Asked by BBC radio if he was paying the price for that deal
not happening, Coupe said: "No, absolutely my choice."

"If you looked at our AGM (annual general meeting) last
year, 99.5% of our shareholders voted for me to carry on doing
what I'm doing," he said.

"It's something I promised myself throughout my career that
at the age of 60 I will stop and do something different with my
life."

Coupe, who is 60 this year, has been at Sainsbury's for 15
years, six as chief executive.

Sainsbury's said last week that Coupe would be succeeded as
CEO by Simon Roberts, the current retail and operations
director.

Coupe was asked, given last year's ruling by the Competition
and Markets Authority (CMA), if it was now impossible for two
big players, such as Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer to
merge.

"I think it's difficult at the moment, but ultimately I have
a very strong view that the industry will consolidate," he said.

"You see the amount of change that's going on in the world
of retail...One way or another there's going to be a significant
rationalisation of brands that you've taken for granted for a
generation.

"And that will happen...probably in the next five or ten
years."

Coupe was speaking after Sainsbury's committed to have net
zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, a decade ahead of the
British government's own target which it said "isn't soon
enough".
($1 = 0.7608 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Kate Holton)