Sainsbury takeover – What’s next?

With the Sainsbury takeover being the biggest news in the business world; all eyes are on the British supermarket since early February 2007. The takeover comes as a surprise as the supermarket has been making profits over the last six months, even just before the takeover was announced. Sainsbury, which enjoys the position of the second largest supermarket in UK after its biggest competitor; Tesco shocked the country after the takeover news was all over the media. The takeover brought it many prospective buyers and also gave rise to many speculations about who would be the new contender. Ever since the takeover news has been announced the share prices of the company have risen. In the week following the takeover news the share prices of Sainsbury rose by 43% in a span of one week. Marks and Spencer was one of the many prospective contenders who were being speculated in media reports as being one of the most important buyers in the supermarket deal. But in the Financial Times article the reporter tries to clear the air. He tries to state with facts and quotes that although the news was ripe that Marks and Spencer’s is going to be one of the prospective buyers the executives at M&S are not thinking about the deal as yet. In the latter half of the article the reporter provides a speculative summary about the future of the deal with M&S now being out of the race. The article is a good combination of facts, figures, quotes and speculations. Even though the story is just a follow up of a high profile takeover the story gives the reader a clearer picture of the existing situation.