Sainsbury's walked away from secret merger talks with Morrisons that would have created a 23.6% market giant
From the Newshound archive · first published 7 October 2026 · last updated 8 October 2026.
Morrisons' US private equity owner Clayton Dubilier & Rice is thought to remain open to a future deal after preliminary merger talks with Sainsbury's collapsed earlier this year.
Sainsbury's held undisclosed talks with debt-laden rival Morrisons between November 2025 and February this year over a multibillion-pound merger before walking away. The collapsed discussions would have created Britain's second-biggest supermarket group, with nearly a quarter of the UK grocery market. Morrisons' US private equity owner Clayton, Dubilier & Rice is reportedly still open to a deal, and talks restarting have not been ruled out.
The combined group's 23.6% share would still have fallen short of Tesco's 27.8%, but would have dwarfed Asda's 11.5%.
Morrisons is struggling under £7.5bn in debt from its 2021 private equity buyout, has shut over 100 stores and is selling off its pharmacies.
The CMA blocked Sainsbury's last big merger attempt — a £7.3bn Asda bid — in 2019, and would almost certainly demand store sell-offs for any fresh deal.
