S/B/139. Dissertation. Acquisition of Safeway: Where did Morrisons go wrong?

Morrisons was the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom, judged by its market share. In 2003 Morrisons revealed a £2.9billion takeover bid for the fourth largest supermarket in the UK Safeway. There have been mounting concerns raised over the way in which Morrisons carried out the acquisition, resulting in the subsequent profit warnings. This dissertation examines what are said to be the ‘keys to successes of acquisitions and how closely, if at all Morrisons followed them. The focus of this investigation is to establish where William Morrisons PLC acquisition of Safeway PLC went wrong and was it due to a lack of both consideration and planning. The author will review the opinions expressed by experts in the area of acquisitions and investigate what they think are the most important things to consider, in order to achieve a successful acquisition. These considerations will then be applied to what Morrisons did in their acquisition of Safeway and outline the mistakes they made.