(Reuters) – LONDON, July 5 (Reuters) – Morrisons (MRW.L) (MRW.L) (MRW.L) (MRW.L) (MRW.L) (MRW.L) (MRW.L) (MRW.L) (MRW.L) (MRW.L) (MRW.L) (MRW.L) (MRW.L) (MRW.L) (MRW.L) (MRW.L) (MRW.L) (MRW.L)(MR find out more The suitors for the 122-year-old Bradford, Northern England-based grocer, which is Britain’s fourth largest, are listed below. LED CONSORTIUM FORTRESS INVESTMENT GROUP Morrisons, which has 500 stores, agreed to a 6.3 billion pound ($8.72 billion) takeover led by SoftBank (9984.T) and backed by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Koch Real Estate Investments on Saturday. find out more Morrisons has vowed to keep its Bradford headquarters and management team, led by CEO David Potts, and to carry out its current strategy, which the consortium has been privately talking to since May 4. Material store sales and leaseback transactions were not intended, according to the statement. After the epidemic hammered home the necessity to keep it local, the opposition Labour party began to express concern about the impact on jobs and food manufacturing. This might make it more appealing to the British government. In 2019, Fortress paid 95 million pounds for Majestic Wine, a British wine retailer. RICE, CLAYTON, & DUBILIER (CD&R) On June 19, a private equity firm in the United States said that it was considering a cash bid for Morrisons. CD&R’s 5.52 billion pound offer was made on June 14 and rejected on June 17, according to Morrisons. find out more Terry Leahy, the former CEO of Tesco (TSCO.L), the UK’s market leader, is a senior consultant to CD&R. Morrisons’ plans have not been revealed by CD&R. However, there is suspicion that CD&R plans to sell and lease back some of its outlets and open Morrisons convenience stores at its Motor Fuels Group petrol forecourt business. find out more CD&R has yet to make their intentions clear. APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT is a global management firm. Another US private equity firm, Apollo, said on Monday that it was in the early stages of examining a possible offer for Morrisons, but that no proposal had been made to the company’s board of directors. Last year, Apollo pursued Asda, the UK’s No. 3 grocer, before losing out to brothers Zuber and Mohsin Issa and TDR Capital, who bought a controlling stake from Walmart (WMT.N) in a 6.8 billion pound deal. find out more ARE THERE ANY OTHER POSSIBLE BIDDERS? Other private equity firms could join in, according to analysts, who point out that Lone Star was also interested in Asda before withdrawing. Amazon (AMZN.O), with whom Morrisons has a long-standing supplier connection, has also been mentioned as a potential bidder for a big physical presence in the UK’s food retail business, which is one of the most advanced in terms of online delivery. Tesco (TSCO.L), Sainsbury’s (SBRY.L), or Asda would all be barred from acquiring Morrisons under competition rules. Sainsbury’s agreed takeover of Asda was halted by Britain’s competition authority in 2019. WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? For the time being, Fortress’ proposed offer is the only one that is firm. Within 28 days of last Saturday, a circular detailing Fortress’ offer must be sent to shareholders (July 3). Morrisons must then call a shareholder meeting within 14 days to allow shareholders to vote on the offer. Although Morrisons’ board of directors has pledged to vote in favor of the Fortress proposal, this does not obligate other shareholders to do so, and the board has a fiduciary duty to consider all other proposals. (1 dollar = 0.7222 pounds) James Davey contributed reporting, and Louise Heavens edited the piece. The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles are our standards./nRead More