Talk of stakebuilding in J Sainsbury usually revolves around the Qataris, failed bidders in 2007 despite offering 600p a share.
The Qataris still own nearly 26%, and there is regular speculation they might want to take another tilt at the supermarket at some stage.
But on Wednesday came news of stakebuilding from a different source. M1 Capital has recently bought enough shares to take its stake to 3.02% of Sainsbury, the company revealed. M1 is a vehicle for brothers Taha and Najib Miktai, the latter of whom has twice served as prime minister of Lebanon.
M1 is believed to have been a shareholder in Sainsbury for several years, last buying shares when the price was around 320p to 360p. But taking its stake from the high 2% level to 3.02% has meant M1 has passed the disclosure threshold. The brothers are said to think the company is a valuable property play, given its land assets were valued at £10.9bn at its last results in November, compared to its market capitalisation of around £5.5bn.
And they are not thought to have any links with the Qatari investors.
Sainsbury shares have slipped 0.2p to 288.8p.
.jpg?w=600)
