J Sainsbury and Asda have offered to dispose of between 125 and 150 supermarkets in an attempt to secure regulatory approval for their proposed £12 billion tie-up, according to documents filed by the grocers with the Competition and Markets Authority.
The offer was criticised by the GMB union, which said the plan was a “desperate and disrespectful” attempt to get the merger through that puts people’s jobs in jeopardy.
The proposed disposal is only half of the roughly 300 stores the CMA said would need to be offloaded if it were to approve the deal.
The CMA published its provisional findings about the tie-up last month, revealing it had extensive concerns that a combined Sainsbury’s and Asda could result in a threat to competition in