Qatar raises Sainsbury stake to 25%

Qatar's royal family has raised its stake in Britain's Sainsbury group to 25 per cent.

The move boosted the supermarket chain's shares amid expectations it could be forced to sell property and return billions of pounds to shareholders.

Delta (Two), a vehicle of the royal family of the Gulf Arab state, said it had purchased 123 million Sainsbury shares or 7.07 per cent of the total at 595 pence apiece.

The £732 million purchase made Qatar the largest single shareholder in Sainsbury, topping the founding Sainsbury family's holding which was put at 18 per cent in late April.

The announcement of the share purchase at a 5.3 per cent premium to Thursday's closing price sent Sainsbury shares up 4.8 per cent to 592p earlier.

The stock hit a record 599p, valuing the firm at around £11 billion.

The real estate assets of European retailers have been in focus, with Carrefour, Tesco and Sainsbury all coming under pressure from investors to unlock the value of their holdings.