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:
June 19 Morrisons rejects proposed £5.52 billion ($7.64 billion) cash offer from Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R).
June 30 Morrisons investor JO Hambro says CD&R should increase its offer to around £6.5 billion.
July 3 Morrisons agrees to a £6.3 billion offer from a consortium led by SoftBank-owned Fortress Investment Group.
July 5 A third private equity group, Apollo Global Management, says it is evaluating a possible offer for Morrisons.
July 20 Apollo says it will not bid for Morrisons on its own but may join the Fortress consortium.
July 22 Scheme document outlining Fortress' offer is published and 16 August set for Morrisons' shareholders to vote on offer. UK Takeover Panel gives CD&R until 9 August to announce a firm intention to make an offer or walk away.
July 27 Silchester, Morrisons' biggest shareholder, says not inclined to support Fortress offer.
July 28 Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC joins Fortress-led private equity consortium.
July 29 Morrisons investor M&G says Fortress offer does not reflect value of group.
August 6 Morrisons agrees to improved offer worth 6.7 billion pounds from Fortress consortium and adjourns shareholder meeting to vote on offer to 27 August.
August 9 Takeover Panel extends CD&R's "put-up or shut-up" deadline to 20 August.
August 19 Morrisons agrees to £7.0 billion offer from CD&R and drops Fortress recommendation. Fortress says it is "considering its options". Morrisons adjourns 27 August shareholder meeting, says new meeting will be held around week starting 4 October.
August 23 Morrisons shareholder Legal & General says it believes the true value of the supermarket group should be realised following CD&R's sweetened bid, with more attention now being paid to its property assets.
August 24 Morrisons' pension schemes warn a takeover by either CD&R or Fortress could "materially weaken" the security of the schemes if no additional protection is agreed.
August 27 Morrisons says scheme document for CD&R's offer to be published on or around 11 September. It says shareholder meeting to vote on CD&R offer will be held on or around 5 October.
News by Reuters edited by Donna Ahern Checkout. For more Retail stories click here. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
