Green light for Somerfield takeover

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The move comes after the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said it would not refer the takeover to the Competition Commission.

Stores in areas across the country are to be sold as part of the acquisition, which is now set to go ahead at the beginning of March.

Co-op said it had found buyers for a total of 90 stores, including 24 outlets that were sold to upfront buyers including Lidl, Spar and Morrisons, as part of the OFT agreement.

It said it had entered into purchase agreements with major retailers for the other stores and has so far sold 13 to Waitrose, seven to Tesco, six to Spar and six to Musgraves.

As previously announced, a further 34 stores are to be sold to Morrisons.

A spokesman for the group said: "There is considerable interest in the stores that the OFT has required us to sell."

But he added that more stores could go in the merger.

"Inevitably there would be some stores we needed to sell because the OFT required us to and others we would need to sell because they did not fit our model," he said.

Co-op and the OFT had indicated 133 areas where competition concerns could arise, including Aberystwyth in Wales, Whitby in North Yorkshire and Bath Road in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. The OFT said there would be no time limit on the sale of the remaining stores.