London — J Sainsbury CEO Mike Coupe is fighting back against Amazon.com and discount grocers with another big takeover bid — a multibillion deal with Walmart that would transform Britain’s supermarket business. The company plans to unveil details of a combination with Walmart’s Asda chain on Monday after confirming a Bloomberg News report on Saturday that the companies were in discussions. Sainsbury ranks second among UK supermarket chains, followed by Asda and behind Tesco. For Coupe, who took over four years ago as CEO, the step would be the boldest — and riskiest — yet to transform the UK retail scene amid incursions from German discounters Lidl and Aldi and the rise of e-commerce. The deal would build on Sainsbury’s 2016 acquisition of general merchandise retailer Argos, which has begun to bolster the grocer’s profits as fierce price competition and Brexit-induced pound weakness squeeze margins. Combining Sainsbury, with a market value of £5.9bn, with Asda would create a giant t...
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