Shares in supermarket group Morrisons have surged by more than 30% after it rebuffed a takeover off worth more than £5.5bn.
The rise, which comes after Sky News this weekend revealed details of the offer from US buyout giant Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), added more than £1bn to the group’s market value.
Rivals Sainsbury’s and Tesco also rose, adding 4% and 2% respectively, as investors digested the implications of the approach for the wider supermarket sector.
On Saturday, Morrisons confirmed the approach, at 230p a share, but said that “significantly undervalued Morrisons and its future prospects” and that it had rejected the offer last week.
But the Financial Times reported that CD&R was set to push ahead with its pursuit while there was also speculation that the offer could spark a bidding war with other private equity firms – or Amazon, which already has an online partnership with the supermarket.
The stock had closed at just over 178p – giving it a market value of just over £4.3bn – at the close of trading on Friday.
On Monday it climbed to more than 236p in early trading, taking the value to more than £5.7bn.
Nick Bubb, an independent retail analyst, said: “As noted by the FT today, CD&R aren’t going away and we suspect a deal can be done in the 250p-260p area, so it should be a lively day for the sector on the stock market today, with an additional focus on the bid potential for Sainsbury and Tesco as well.”