The battle for Morrisons, Britain's fourth-largest supermarket group, is the most high-profile looming takeover in the country amid a raft of bids and counter bids, reflecting private equity's appetite for UK Plc. Here is a timeline of events so far.
19 June Morrisons says it rejected a proposed 5.52 billion pound ($7.7 billion) cash offer from from U.S. private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) on 17 June.
30 June Morrisons investor JO Hambro says CD&R should increase its offer to around £6.5 billion.
3 July Morrisons agrees to a £6.3 billion pound takeover offer from a consortium led by SoftBank owned Fortress Investment Group.
5 JulyA third private equity group, Apollo Global Management, says it is evaluating a possible offer for Morrisons.
10 July Apollo says it will not bid for Morrisons on its own but may join the Fortress consortium.
22 July Scheme document outlining Fortress' offer is published and 16 August date set for Morrisons' shareholders to vote on the offer.
Takeover Panel gives CD&R until Aug. 9 to announce a firm intention to make an offer or walk away -- a so-called "put-up or shut-up" order.
27 July Silchester, Morrisons' biggest shareholder, says not inclined to support Fortress' offer.
28 July Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, GIC, joins the Fortress-led private equity consortium.
29 July Morrisons investor M&G says Fortress offer does not reflect value of supermarket group.
6 August Morrisons agrees to improved takeover offer worth 6.7 billion pounds from Fortress consortium and adjourns shareholder meeting to vote on the offer to Aug. 27.
9 August Takeover Panel extends CD&R's "put-up or shut-up" deadline to 20 August.
News by Reuters edited by Donna Ahern Checkout. For more Retail stories click here. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
