26th September 2022
J Sainsbury plc
Property transaction update
Sainsbury's announced on September 21st that it was in discussions to sell 18 supermarket stores to LXi REIT plc on a sale and leaseback basis.
LXi REIT has this morning announced that given current stock market volatility it is not proceeding with the share issue that would have part-funded the transaction. Hence we are no longer in discussions to sell these stores to LXi REIT. This will have no impact on our financial guidance.
We stated on September 21st that if the LXi transaction were to proceed, the cash received from this transaction would have been used to part-fund the purchase of 21 freehold Sainsbury's supermarkets from the Highbury and Dragon portfolios.
The purchase of these 21 stores will complete in the first half of the financial year to March 2024. Given the strength of the Sainsbury's balance sheet and property portfolio, we have a wide variety of alternative options to finance this transaction.
ENDS
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