FreshDirect Buys Back Stake From U.K. Grocer

Online grocer FreshDirect has bought back the stake U.K. grocer Morrisons acquired in the company back in 2011.

According to British newspaper The Guardian, New York City-based FreshDirect paid £45 million ($58.7 million) for the stake; Morrisons was said to have paid £31 million ($40.4 million) five years ago. The move was an attempt by Morrisons to shore up its bottom line by focusing on its core business. On the e-commerce front, the grocer currently operates its own e-grocery service in partnership with fellow U.K. company Ocado, which it recently expanded, and has also inked a deal to supply wholesale groceries to Amazon in the U.K.

“We can confirm that FreshDirect repurchased these shares on terms that were favorable to FreshDirect and its other shareholders,” a public relations representative for the company told Progressive Grocer, declining to name the amount paid. “We had a very amicable and beneficial relationship with Morrison over the past five-and-a-half years.”