Sainsbury's held merger talks with rival Morrisons earlier this year, reports say

Sainsbury’s, Britain’s second-largest grocer, held talks with smaller rival Morrisons about a potential multibillion-pound merger earlier this year before walking away, according to media reports on Monday.

The discussions took place between November 2025 and February this year and are no longer active, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. People close to the situation did not rule out negotiations restarting in the future.

Spokespeople for both Sainsbury’s and Morrisons, which is owned by US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, declined to comment on the reports, according to Reuters.

Sky News reported that Morrisons’ owner would remain open to a tie-up with one of its competitors, citing retail industry sources. Retail Week separately confirmed the discussions took place earlier this year.

The talks come against a shifting competitive landscape: in 2019, Britain’s competition regulator blocked Sainsbury’s proposed £7.3 billion takeover of Asda. Analysts believe a deal between two of Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s would stand a better chance of approval today, with discounters Aldi and Lidl now formidable competitors.

Recent Kantar market share data suggests a combined Sainsbury’s and Morrisons would hold a 23.8% share of the UK grocery market, still short of Tesco’s 28.2%. Shares of Sainsbury’s were little changed on Monday.