Whole Foods shares have jumped above Amazon’s $42 all-cash offer as investors and several analysts bet that a rival retailer could gatecrash the $13.7bn offer made by Jeff Bezos’s ecommerce giant for the upmarket grocer. The Financial Times writes investors pushed the share price of Whole Foods up 1.3% to $43.22 on Monday, suggesting confidence that the likes of Walmart, Kroger or Albertsons will feel compelled to put a rival offer on the table. Whole Foods CEO John Mackey has revealed a softer side during the Amazon courtship, The Financial Times says. The outspoken founder, who recently called an activist investor a “greedy bastard”, described the “blind date” that led to Amazon’s $13.7bn bid for the upmarket grocer as “love at first sight”. An analysis in The Guardian looks at the Austin, Texas roots of Whole Foods and writes that shelf-stockers and purveyors of locally sourced organic produce gave a wary welcome to Jeff Bezos’s buyout of the market that changed their town. The headline of the piece is “Whole Foods for thought: Austin foodies ponder future under Amazon”.
A market report in The Times looks at the 11% jump in value of Ocado shares on the back of the Amazon takeover of Whole Foods. Analysts at Exane think the deal may drive retailers into Ocado’s arm to try and remain competitive with Amazon. The report also looks at the Sainsbury’s rise yesterday on back of the NIsa takeover rumours.
The Times breaks the story last night that Supermarket Income Real Estate Investment Trust wants to offer shares on the specialist fund segment of the London Stock Exchange and hopes to raise up to £200m to buy stores rented to Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons.
The Financial Times reports on two separate IPOs at meal delivery companies. In the first article, the paper follows up on news that online food takeaway start-up Delivery Hero is to float on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The business hopes to raise almost £1bn in the flotation by selling up to 39 million shares, priced at between €22 and €25.5o each. Do-it-yourself meal delivery service Blue Apron is also looking to raise almost $450m in its upcoming initial public offering. The paper adds the company is aiming for an initial price of between $15 and $17 per share.
A Belgian court has ruled that advertising claims about the health and environmental benefits of a palm oil-free “Choco” spread were illegal, in a case brought against the supermarket chain Delhaize by Ferrero, which manufactures Nutella, according to a report in The Guardian. Delhaize has been ordered not to repeat any claims about its Choco spread being better for the planet or your health, on pain of a €25,000 (£22,000) fine for each repetition.
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