Fortress-led bid for Britain's Morrisons is 'good value' -abrdn CEO

LONDON (Reuters) – The Fortress Investment Group-led $8.7 billion takeover offer for British supermarket chain Morrisons represents “good value”, abrdn’s CEO Stephen Bird said on Monday.

Abrdn, formerly Standard Life Aberdeen, is the fifteenth largest investor in Britain’s fourth biggest supermarket group, according to Refinitiv data.

The asset manager’s holdings are as a passive, or index-tracking, investment, an abrdn spokesperson said.

Morrisons said on Saturday that its board, led by Chairman Andrew Higginson, had recommended a takeover led by SoftBank owned Fortress Investment Group that valued the firm at 6.3 billion pounds ($8.7 billion).

“I think the Morrisons deal is good value, I think it’s a smart thing to do,” abrdn’s Bird told Reuters.

Other private equity groups are also vying for Morrisons.

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