Supermarket giant Sainsbury's said today that it approached Home Retail Group (HRG) in November regarding a possible offer for the Argos and Homebase parent in the form of Sainsbury's shares and cash.
HRG rejected the approach, and Sainsbury's says it is now "considering its position". In a statement it added: "There can be no certainty that this will result in a formal offer, nor as to the terms of any such offer."

Over the last year, Sainsbury's has been working in partnership with HRG, trialling a number of Argos concessions in its supermarkets.

Sainsbury's says it believes the combination of itself and HRG is an attractive proposition for the customers and shareholders of both companies.

It says such a combination would build on the strong heritages of both businesses and bring together multi-channel capabilities and delivery networks across a wide range of food and non-food products. It would also optimise the use of their combined retail space and increase the ability to sell to each other's customers.

Sainsbury's says it will make a further statement as appropriate.

Rumours about offers for HRG were circulating last year. Among them were reports that former Wyevale Garden Centres boss Nicholas Marshall was going after Homebase.