Qatar ups stake in Sainsbury's again

QATAR STAKE: Holding in UK supermarket grows to 27 percent. (Getty Images)

Qatar raised its stake in J Sainsbury Plc, the UK supermarket chain it proposed buying last year for $20.8 billion, for the third time in a month.

Sainsbury added two percent in London trading. The Qatar Investment Authority bought 22.3 million shares on July 24, lifting its holding to 27.3 percent, newswire Bloomberg reported.

It previously held 26 percent.

Qatar’s 600 pence-a-share bid for Sainsbury collapsed in November after a worldwide credit crunch and demands by the grocer's pension-fund trustees made the transaction prohibitively expensive.

Speculation about a new offer surfaced at the end of last month, Bloomberg said.

Officials at the authority were not immediately available to comment on the announcement.

Sainsbury rose 6.25 pence to 323.50 pence in London. The stock has lost 24 percent of its value this year.

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