Morrisons plans to buy 38 stores from the Co-operative Group (Co-op) and has entered into a conditional agreement with the firm over the purchase.
The Office of Fair Trading told the Co-op that it must sell off 120 stores so its acquisition of Somerfield can go ahead, in order to alleviate competition concerns.
Under the terms of the deal, 20% of the stores must be sold before the deal can go through.
Morrisons said the new store space will “fit very well within our existing portfolio of 150 smaller stores”.
Some of the stores it is buying are believed to be those that are to be pre-sold before the Somerfield deal can be completed, reports the Guardian.
The plans were revealed after Morrisons posted third quarter like-for-like sales growth of 8.1%.
