Singapore sovereign wealth fund joins Fortress-led bid for Morrisons

Singapore's sovereign wealth fund has joined the Fortress-led private equity consortium looking to buy supermarket chain Morrisons.

Fortress, which is backed by Japan's SoftBank, said on Wednesday that GIC would provide £100m of funding. This would allow the consortium to sweeten its £9.5bn bid for Morrisons after the supermarket’s largest shareholder - Silchester International, which owns a 15.14% stake in the company - said on Tuesday that it was not inclined to support the bid.

Earlier this month, US private equity firm Apollo said it was in talks with Fortress about joining the consortium and that it would not make a separate offer for the group.

The consortium includes Fortress, Canadian pension fund CPPIB, and Koch Real Estate Investments.

Fortress said that GIC, which owns a 0.2% interest in Morrisons, will provide the cash through its investment vehicle, Cambourne Life.

Morrisons shareholders are scheduled to vote on the Fortress-led offer on 16 August.