Sainsbury’s ‘held talks’ with major supermarket rival about potential merger

Sainsbury's to potentially merge with competing grocer

Although talks are not believed to be currently active, industry sources say that a wave of top grocery market mergers could be “inevitable” within the next three years.

Retail insiders shared that Morrisons, one of Sainsbury’s major rivals, remains open to the idea of a coalition between the two giants.

Another Sainsbury's attempt to tie-up with a major competitor

This isn’t the first time that Sainsbury’s dabbled with the idea of a merger, coming close to a consolidation with another major competitor in Asda in 2020. 

Asda, much like Morrisons, is owned by private equity investors, and analysts expect Morrisons to be active in a fresh round of dealmaking. 

The 2020 deal between Sainsbury's and Asda was cut by competition regulators, the CMA, as seeing two of the top 4 grocers together could be unfair to the other competitors. 

However, experts believe a merge could happen this time around, seeing how the industry landscape has changed over the years

Aldi and Lidl have now become formidable opponents to the four grocery giants, coming in as affordable discount competitors.

Experts expect something big to go down, as a deal between Asda or Morrisons with Sainsbury’s is much more likely to happen in 2026 compared to six years ago.