Finance

Qatar to reduce stake in UK supermarket Sainsbury’s

October 11, 2024, 6:40 PM

Sainsbury's has the second-largest share of the UK grocery market, at 15 percent, behind Tesco at 28 percent

QIA to sell 109m shares
Sainsbury’s shares fall on news
Expansion in US and Asia

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund is selling part of its 15 percent stake in the British supermarket Sainsbury’s as the fund pushes ahead with expansion in the United States and Asia, particularly China and India.

Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the biggest shareholder in Sainsbury’s, is selling £306 million ($399 million) worth of shares in the retailer, reducing its holding by about 5 percent.

A filing on Thursday showed QIA is offering 109 million shares for sale at a guide price of £2.80 each, with Goldman Sachs as the sole bookrunner, Reuters reported.

Sainsbury’s shares fell more than 5 percent in trading on Friday.

The supermarket has the second-largest share of the UK grocery market, at 15 percent, behind Tesco at 28 percent, according to the market researcher Kantar.

Sainsbury’s recent financial results have also been positive in the fiercely competitive retail sector, with a 5.1 percent increase in sales during the four weeks up to September 29, Kantar said.

QIA, the sixth-largest sovereign wealth fund in the world, has several investments in the UK.

It owns London’s luxury department store, Harrods, the Shard skyscraper, a 20 percent share in Heathrow Airport and an 11.6 percent stake in the water company Severn Trent, and shares ownership of Canary Wharf Group with Brookfield Property Partners.

Last month, QIA said that it was looking at expanding into Australia, South Korea and Southeast Asia as part of its growth strategy.

The sovereign fund, which has $429 billion of assets under management, has started to hire locally in Australia and South Korea, Abdulla Ali Al-Kuwari, head of Asia Pacific at QIA Advisory, told a panel at the Milken Institute Asia Summit 2024 in Singapore.

“We started Japan with the team maybe three years ago, now we are doubling it. It is a market to focus for us,” he said.

QIA is also exploring investment opportunities, including “carve-outs” among conglomerates and take-private deals in Japan, while focusing mainly on the technology sector in India.

Established in 2005, QIA’s domestic holdings include stakes in Qatar National Bank, the Middle East and Africa’s biggest bank by assets, and the former telecom monopoly Ooredoo.