KKR Drops Out of Sainsbury Group; Steps Up Coles Effort

NEW YORK -- Kohlberg Kravis Roberts here has dropped out of the consortium of private equity funds seeking to buy London supermarket chain J. Sainsbury, but it was meeting with new investors to make another run at Australian food retailer Coles Group, reports said Thursday. KKR has dropped out of a group preparing a bid for Sainsbury so as to concentrate on a separate bid for retailer Alliance Boots, Bloomberg News said. Australian press said Thursday that KKR was among a group of investors seeking $14 billion in bank financing to make a run at Coles, the country‘s second largest food retailer. Coles is apparently considering a buyout offer of $19.7 billion by Wesfarms, another retailer.