A date has finally been set for the EU referendum, but the story dominating the business pages this weekend was the last-minute bid for Argos from furniture retailer Steinhoff.

The Mail said Sainsbury’s bid for Argos was on a “knife edge” as the South African rival made a last ditch £1.4bn offer. Sainsbury’s takeover plans were thrown into disarray, according to The Telegraph, which writes the Steinhoff was worth about £111m more than the offer by the supermarket. The paper added: “Rival approach from Steinhoff and the prospect of a competition inquiry pops Sainsbury’s Mike Coupe’s Argos bubble. Sainsbury’s boss Mike Coupe is under pressure after his ambitious bid for Argos has come close to unravelling after the emergence of a rival bid and the prospect of a competition review.”

The Independent notes the presence of the South African billionaire Christopher Wiese behind the Steinhoff bid, with the paper calling the new £1.4bn counter-offer “audacious”. Wiese, who also has stakes in Iceland and New Look, is the largest shareholder of Steinhoff. The paper also adds that the South African group has come under tax scrutiny in Germany, where it is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The retail group is the subject of a major tax investigation in Germany, after its offices were raided by German prosecutors in December as part of an investigation into its tax affairs. Steinhoff, run by horseracing tycoon Markus Jooste, has also repeatedly paid way under the official corporation tax rate in South Africa, the paper added.

The Financial Times focused on the pressure now on Sainsbury’s boss Mike Coupe. The paper notes he has defied scepticism among shareholders to champion the takeover but he now has just two days to salvage a chance of completing the deal. In a separate piece the paper looks at what suitors see in the Argos business and comes up with the answer that it is all about logistics.

The Sunday Times led with Sainsbury’s being set to seek an extension to the deadline for its £1.3bn bid, with sister paper The Times following up this morning. The Guardian notes that shares in Home Retail jumped 12% this morning after the emergence of the £1.4bn rival offer.

There is plenty of Brexit coverage after the Prime Minister confirmed the EU referendum would take place on 23 June. The FT focused this morning on the pummelling the pound has taken on Brexit fears. But the majority of the coverage is dominated by Boris Johnson coming out for the Brexit campaign. In a Telegraph exclusive he says “there is only one way to get the change we want – vote to leave the EU”. The Times added that Johnson had “electrified” the referendum race by backing the campaign to take Britain out of the European Union.

The Telegraph writes that the gloves “are finally off for epic Brexit fight”. “With the pantomime of the renegotiation over, it’s time to get down to the serious stuff. For pro-EU voices in business and the City, the renegotiation was always unimportant. It was merely part of the political dance, and was never likely to yield the “reformed Europe” of initial ambition.”

David Cameron ignited a fresh Tory civil war over immigration last night in an interview with The Sunday Times, warning that those who wanted to leave the European Union were misleading the public by claiming that they could seal Britain’s borders. And The Telegraph also looks at two polls which revealed a clear majority of UK industry backs remaining in European Union.

Finally, in a column in the Mail on Sunday, Simon Watkins writes: “I am not yet convinced that in this bonfire of the supermarkets, Asda has got it entirely wrong”.

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