Sainsbury’s is to take a look at frozen food chain Iceland as it seeks to accelerate growth of its convenience format.

According to the Daily Mail, Sainsbury’s could be interested in all or part of the 730 stores.

Neil Sachdev, property director, said: “Everyone is looking at Iceland. When and if it comes up for sale then we will take a look. What we don’t know is if Iceland will be sold whole or just broken up.”

Sainsbury’s has been accelerating its convenience store growth for some time but has a long way to go before it catches up with rival Tesco. Other retailers such as Waitrose and Morrisons are also stepping up convenience expansion.

At the start of the year, Retail Week revealed that the Resolution Committee handling the administration of failed bank Landsbanki had kicked off a process to sell Iceland.

Iceland founder Malcolm Walker is keen to take back full control of the retailer.

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