Morrisons has returned with a final last-minute offer to try buy the convenience store chain, McColl's.
Administrators are set to be appointed for the business which has 1,100 stores and around 16,000 employees.
EG Group, the petrol station empire owned by the Blackburn-based billionaire Issa brothers, has been poised to buy McColl's.
But Morrisons has now tabled an eleventh-hour improved offer.
The BBC understands that Britain's fourth biggest supermarket chain is offering to take on all the stores and staff as well.
Morrisons had already agreed to take on McColl's debts, but it is now understood to be willing to pay McColl's lenders in full, straightaway, matching a similar pledge thought to have been made by EG Group.
Morrisons is also prepared to take on McColl's pension commitments.
It's thought EG's rescue deal doesn't include the pensions scheme.
It's unclear whether EG Group has come back with a revised offer. A deadline was set for 6pm on Sunday for full and final bids.
Both Morrisons and EG Group declined to comment.
News of Morrisons latest attempt to take control of the business was first reported by Sky News.
The retailer had already made an offer on Thursday evening, shortly after McColl's warned that unless it secured extra cash it was likely to go into administration. But lenders turned the rescue deal down.
The trustees of the McColl's pension schemes have written to the Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, urging him to do whatever he can to make sure pension scheme members are protected.
Morrisons is McColl's key wholesale supplier. It has also formed a tie-up with the chain to convert hundreds of McColl's shops to Morrisons Daily convenience stores. There are more than 200 now and these have been performing well.
Morrisons saw its earlier offer to take over the chain turned down on Friday. That set in motion the insolvency process, which is due to proceed in the courts as early as Monday morning.
Morrisons said its proposal would have fully protected its pensioners.
But trustees fear the insolvency process would see pensions liabilities shed in the process. Trustees wrote to the Issa brothers on Saturday voicing their concerns and urging them to "do the decent thing" by honouring the chain's pension commitments.
The pension schemes in question were relatively small, and maintaining them would "clearly be manageable for the ongoing business, or for anyone who acquires it", trustees said.
Shedding the schemes, however, would represent "a serious breach of the pension promises made to staff who have served the business loyally over many years", trustees wrote.
McColl's employs around 16,000 staff across the chain but only around 2,000 are in the two defined benefit pension schemes that are at risk.
The convenience store sector as a whole has done relatively well during the pandemic, as people shopped closer to home.
However, McColl's has run into difficulties as it attempted to update the range of food it sold, a process made harder by Covid-related supply chain problems.
EG Group already owns thousands of petrol stations, including forecourt shops, and other convenience stores in the UK, Ireland, Europe, Australia and the US - and is expected to retain McColl's sites and staff. EG Group is also aiming to offer McColl's workers a pay rise to £10.05 an hour for over 18-year-olds.
However, typically after an insolvency of this kind, new owners do not take on pension liabilities.
The trustees said since EG Group claims to be a "good corporate citizen" they should consider shouldering responsibility for the schemes.
If the new owners shed the pension schemes, it will fall to the industry-funded Pension Protection Fund (PFF) to ensure members are compensated.
The PFF said if the schemes were transferred to them, members who had reached their scheme's normal pension age would still receive the same amount in compensation as the pension they are receiving from their scheme at the time of insolvency.
Members who were yet to draw their pension would receive 90% of what they could have expected.
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2022-05-08 17:29:25Z
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