J Sainsbury, the UK supermarket chain, has agreed a deal to buy Home Retail Group (HRG), owner of catalogue retailer, Argos, in a deal valued at £1.3 billion ($1.9 billion).
Sainsbury’s will pay £1.1 billion ($1.6 billion) for equity of HRG. The firm will also honour an existing HRG agreement, to return £200 million ($291.4 million) to shareholders following the sale of Homebase to Westfarmers, an Australian company, for £340 million ($495.4 million).
Once the deal has been formally secured, Sainsbury’s plans to open Argos concessions in its stores. It will also close Argos locations that are near Sainsbury’s stores.
