The company’s share price has fallen 3% over the past year and the board is still reeling from a recent boardroom pay row.
Barclays also warned that hopes of an Amazon takeover may be overly optimistic given that Morrisons remains more of a northern store chain, has a less affluent customer base than Amazon’s core and has a limited number of convenience stores.
Property industry sources were speculating that the US private equity group would be looking to sell down some of Morrisons’ weighty property portfolio.
In what is a legacy of its influential late chairman Sir Ken Morrison, the group has retained most of its stores rather than sell them and lease them back.
It owns around 85% of its own properties - significantly more than Sainsbury, which is in the mid-60% range, and Tesco.
Analysts have suggested CD&R would sell at least some of them to recoup cash rapidly. If Apollo were to come in with a bid of its own, it could do the same or simply keep the properties as an investment holding.
Barclays today said Morrisons’ properties were probably worth more than £8 billion, based on the most recent valuation in 2015.
CD&R considers itself at the “aristocratic” end of the private equity industry and will have been appalled by fears in the UK media that it may torch Morrisons’ jobs and asset strip the company. One newspaper headline today slammed “private equity vultures”.
