The battle to buy Somerfield is heating up as one of the bidders has rolled out a new proposal in the hope of gaining an advantage.
The Livingstone brothers, who own the London and Regional property group and are working with Japanese bank Nomura, have put forward a revised plan to sell up to 500 stores to retailer United Co-operatives.
The sales would generate enough money for the consortium to pay debts, allowing it to up the offer of £1.1bn it pledged for the Somerfield Group in April.
A rival consortium, made up of Apax, the private equity group, Barclays Capital and Robert Tchenguiz, an Iranian property tycoon, is also thought to be preparing to submit a revised proposal this month.
Last week it was reported that Somerfield was planning to appeal against the Competition Commission’s ruling that is must sell 12 of the 115 Morrison stores bought this year.
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