Editing Safeway (UK) (section)

===Morrisons takeover===
{{multiple image
| direction = vertical
| image1 = Safeway Superstore, Bude - geograph.org.uk - 18245.jpg
| caption1 = A larger Safeway supermarket in [[Bude]], [[Cornwall]] in 2005, after the purchase of the chain by [[Morrisons]].
| image2 = Morrisons supermarket car park, Bude (geograph 4917147).jpg
| caption2 = The same building in 2016, now as a branch of Morrisons.
}}
On 9 January 2003, the much smaller [[Morrisons]], with around 119 shops largely located in the [[North of England]], made a surprise offer to purchase the chain, offering 1.32 new shares of Morrisons for each share of Safeway, with the co-operation of the Safeway board. This served to start a stampede of other potential buyers. [[Sainsbury's]], [[Asda]], [[Kohlberg Kravis Roberts|KKR]] (the company which helped finance the sale of Safeway to Argyll in 1987), Trackdean Investments Limited (controlled by [[Philip Green]], owner of [[British Home Stores|BHS]] and [[Arcadia (company)|Arcadia]]) and [[Tesco]] all said they were considering making offers.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2841259/Defiant-Morrison-fights-to-stay-in-Safeway-hunt.html|title=Defiant Morrison fights to stay in Safeway hunt|first=Kate |last=Rankine|date=31 January 2003|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|access-date=22 December 2015}}</ref>

They were all asked to make submissions to the [[Office of Fair Trading]] (OFT) for approval under the Fair Trading Act 1973. On 23 January, Safeway's board dropped its recommendation of the Morrisons offer. KKR later dropped its proposal. On 19 March, the remaining proposals except for Trackdean's (which was said to raise no competition issues) were referred to the [[Competition Commission]] by the [[Trade and Industry Secretary]], [[Patricia Hewitt]]. The report of the Competition Commission was made public on 26 September.

A takeover of Safeway by Sainsbury's, Asda or Tesco was "expected to operate against the public interest, and should be prohibited". However, a takeover by Morrisons was held to be acceptable on the condition that 53 shops of the combined operation be sold, due to local competition issues. [[Patricia Hewitt]] accepted these recommendations.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F05E4D7123DF934A1575AC0A9659C8B63|title=Britain Blocks Big Chains From Taking Over Safeway|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|date=27 September 2003|access-date=22 December 2015}}</ref>

[[Philip Green]] announced on 30 October that he was not proceeding with a takeover bid, on the basis that it was not clear whether approval could be obtained to sell off individual shops to other chains. On 15 December, Morrisons, the only remaining bidder, made a new offer of one share of Morrisons, plus sixty pence for each Safeway share, again with the co-operation of the Safeway board.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2871906/Wm-Morrison-tables-3bn-bid-for-Safeway.html|title=Wm Morrison tables £3bn bid for Safeway|first=Kate |last=Rankine|date=16 December 2003|work=Telegraph.co.uk|access-date=22 December 2015}}</ref> On 11 February 2004, shareholders of both Wm Morrison and Safeway voted to approve the merger of the two companies, subject to the result of two [[High Court of England and Wales|High Court]] rulings later in the month.