By Emily Hawkins
Supermarket Sainsbury’s is in discussions to sell more than dozen stores to real investment trust LXi REIT for around £500m.
The businesses confirmed talks about a sale and leaseback deal on Wednesday, after a report by Sky News earlier this week.
LXi REIT hopes to fund the deal through a combination of new equity and debt while it will pursue a potential equity raising with investors.
The deal would include a portfolio of some 18 stores that are mostly situated in the south of England.
Shares in LXi REIT were buoyed by almost two per cent while Sainsbury’s were up by around 1.5 per cent in late afternoon trading on Wednesday.
Sainsbury’s also stated it had inked a deal on the price it would cough up for 21 stores from the Highbury and Dragon investment vehicles.
The retailer did not make public a price but confirmed a deal would be finalised in the first half of its financial year to March 2024.
Funds from the sale of the 18 stores would be used to partly fund the Highbury and Dragon deal, Sainsbury’s said on Wednesday.
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