Damien Carolan, the former right-hand-man to Feargal Quinn at Superquinn, has revealed that Sainsburys was "the most likely candidate" to take over the Irish retailer, ahead of the sale to Select Retail Holdings in 2004.
Carolan told Retail Intelligence that "Sainsburys spent several weeks in Dublin conducting a due diligence on the business," ahead of what was at the time a planned takeover bid.
However, Justin King, newly appointed chief executive at Sainsburys at the time, reportedly opted out at the last minute, "as he had more urgent matters which needed his attention back in the UK.”
As a result, Select Retail Holdings (SRH) “was then the only offer on the table. It was a property play, plain and simple, which didn’t materialise.
"The new management were not FMCG retailers, but at the time, that was not considered an obstacle by the new owners.”
Damien Carolan is interviewed in full in the January edition of Checkout, released later this week.
© 2013 - Checkout Magazine by Stephen Wynne-Jones
