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Shares in J Sainsbury fell more than 5 per cent on Friday after the largest shareholder in the UK’s second-biggest supermarket chain sold nearly a third of its shares.
The Qatar Investment Authority sold about a third of its 14.2 per cent stake in the grocer in a private placing, according to messages sent by Goldman Sachs and seen by the Financial Times.
The transaction, made late on Thursday, leaves the QIA with a stake of about 9.5 per cent, just behind the 10.1 per cent held by the investment vehicle of Czech businessman Daniel Křetínský. The messages showed that the QIA sold the shares at 280p, a price that would raise £306mn.
Neither Sainsbury’s nor the QIA immediately responded to requests for comment on the sale. Goldman Sachs declined to comment.
Sainsbury’s shares were down 16p — or 5.6 per cent — at noon in London, at 272p.
A person familiar with the QIA’s thinking described the sale as part of its “regular portfolio management” and said the authority was fully supportive of the supermarket group’s strategy and action plan.
Sainsbury’s in February said it planned to cut annual costs by £1bn, launch a £200mn share buyback and embark on a “progressive dividend policy”.
Including Friday’s fall, Sainsbury’s shares are down 9 per cent so far this year amid concerns about the company’s ability to compete in an aggressively competitive UK retail environment. Sainsbury’s also owns the Tu clothing and Argos brands.
The QIA first bought a stake in Sainsbury’s in 2007, quickly building up to a 25 per cent holding. But it has been reducing this since 2021 when it sold a nearly 7 per cent stake in the grocer to Křetínský.
In a note to investors, analysts at JPMorgan said that “given the strategic nature” of the QIA’s stake, they did not expect the sale to be related to forthcoming UK events such as chancellor Rachel Reeve’s first Budget statement later this month.
Křetínský is best known in the UK for his successful bid for International Distribution Services, parent of the Royal Mail postal service, agreed earlier this year.
Additional reporting by Laura Onita and Ivan Levingston