Sainsbury’s shares jumped 14 per cent on Monday following reports that US private equity firms are planning to launch high-value bids for the supermarket retailer.

According to The Sunday Times, American companies could bid over £7 billion for the chain, which is the UK’s second largest supermarket.

The newspaper said that private equity businesses, including New York-based Apollo Global Management, were circling the British supermarket.

Apollo has reportedly been scouring the British supermarket industry after being outbid for Asda last year.

The report comes after UK supermarket Morrisons, the fourth biggest supermarket in Britain, agreed to a £7 billion offer from Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.

The bid trumps a £6.3 billion offer from a group of investors, including Fortress Investment Group, which was accepted by the supermarket chain last month.

It has also been reported that Apollo is in discussions with the Fortress-led investment consortium about joining the bid for Morrisons.

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