UK supermarket group Morrisons is in talks with a number of parties, including US-based Realty Income, for a £600m real estate deal, Sky News reported today, citing industry sources.
The deal is unlikely to be structured as a conventional sale-and-leaseback deal, but can instead involve financing tied to a portfolio of the retailer’s stores, Sky reported.
The grocery chain store previously engaged real estate advisor CBRE to evaluate options to raise up to £1 billion against part of its freehold store portfolio, Sky had reported in February.
The sixth-largest UK grocer has been focused on streamlining its operations as it grapples with an increasingly competitive domestic retail sector and lower consumer spending amid rising energy prices from the US-Iran war.
The chain, owned by US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, lags peers Tesco and Sainsbury’s as well as discounter Lidl, which recently overtook it to become Britain’s fifth-biggest grocer, according to industry data.
