Supermarket group Sainsbury's has agreed the sale of Argos to Swift Partners for £120million, a decade after it bought the retailer.
Sainsbury's will receive cash proceeds of at least £120million from the sale, with a £70million up-front payment when the deal completes next year.
The supermarket giant said it had sold Argos to Swift Partners, a group of retail specialists which includes former Co-Operative Group boss Richard Pennycook.
Sainsbury's boss Simon Roberts said the group had ‘carefully considered’ options for Argos’s future and the deal would allow it to ‘fully focus on its core food business’.
The deal brings to a close Sainsbury's grand plans to use Argos to take on Tesco, John Lewis and even Amazon. Sainsbury's bought Argos in a £1.4billion deal a decade ago to capitalise on its then market-leading 'click and collect' service.
