the price has hardly changed, according to the FT:

The idea that Qatar is concerned about paying an extra £500m of equity on top of the £4.8bn already committed, is absurd.

This amounts to less than 10 per cent of the value of the bid and any experienced player knows that most take-privates require an additional slug of cash at the end to seal the deal.

Increasing the proportion of equity by £500m would mean only a marginal difference in Qatar’s projected internal rate of return – say 14 per cent, rather than 15 per cent. What’s more, about 75 per cent of the value of Sainsbury is in its property – a low-risk investment.