Who Owns Morrisons?

Morrisons is owned by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, the US private equity firm, which took it private in October 2021. But the UK register never names them. Companies House shows six companies stacked above the supermarket, and the one at the top files a statement saying it believes there is no registrable person at all. Ownership verified 6 September 2026.

Who owns the Morrisons brand?

The supermarket is WM MORRISON SUPERMARKETS LIMITED (00358949), incorporated 22 January 1940 and registered at Hilmore House, Bradford. Its person with significant control is Market Bidco Limited (13537474), notified 27 October 2021 — the day the takeover completed.

One detail of that entry is worth reading carefully. Market Bidco is recorded as holding 75% or more of the voting rights and the right to appoint or remove directors, but the entry does not record ownership of shares. The register captures the nature of control that was notified, and control of votes and of the board is what was declared.

Parent company and ultimate owner

The chain recorded at Companies House:

1. Wm Morrison Supermarkets Limited (00358949) — the supermarket
2. Market Bidco Limited (13537474)
3. Market Holdco 3 Limited (13537356) — 75%+
4. Market Holdco 2 Limited (13537448) — 75%+
5. Market Holdco 1 Limited (13537393) — 75%+
6. Market Topco Limited (13537349) — the top of the UK chain

Every step above the supermarket was notified on 29 July 2021, three months before completion — the structure built in advance of the deal closing.

And at the top, the trail ends in a statement rather than an owner. Market Topco Limited files, and still maintains, the declaration that the company knows or has reasonable cause to believe that there is no registrable person or registrable relevant legal entity in relation to the company. Six companies, and the register’s final answer is that nobody qualifies to be named.

That is lawful and common for funds held through partnerships offshore, but it is worth being plain about what it means: Clayton, Dubilier & Rice does not appear anywhere on the UK register as Morrisons’ owner. The identification rests on the takeover documents, the Competition and Markets Authority’s published review of the deal, and CD&R’s own announcements.

Brand owner vs operating company

The trading business, the brand and the stores sit in Wm Morrison Supermarkets Limited. The Market companies hold and finance the purchase and trade nothing — the names are transaction conventions.

Each of Bidco, Holdco 3, Holdco 2 and Holdco 1 also filed a “no registrable person” statement on 29 July 2021 and withdrew it the same day, replacing it with the company above. Withdrawn statements stay visible on the register as part of the filing history.

When the ownership changed

Morrisons was a public company for decades, and the register shows the moment it stopped being one. Its previous names are WM MORRISON SUPERMARKETS P L C, held until 17 November 2021, and then WM MORRISON SUPERMARKETS P L C LIMITED — for a single day, 17 November 2021. That one-day name is the mechanical trace of re-registering a public company as a private one.

CD&R won Morrisons in 2021 after a contested auction against a rival consortium, at a price reported at around £7bn including debt, completing on 27 October 2021. The family that founded the business in Bradford had long since ceased to control it; by the takeover Morrisons was a widely held listed company.

Related brands in the same group

Morrisons owns the Safeway brand, bought in 2004 and now used mainly for wholesale supply, and Nutmeg, its clothing range. It acquired the McColl’s convenience chain out of administration in 2022.

The clearest sign of common ownership is the forecourts. Morrisons sold its petrol stations to Motor Fuel Group in a deal reported at £2.5bn — and MFG is also controlled by CD&R, with Morrisons taking a minority stake in MFG as part of the arrangement. A sale between two companies under the same owner is a reorganisation as much as a transaction, which is why deals like it draw scrutiny.

Sources and verification

Every company number, notification date, withdrawn statement and previous name above is from the Companies House register and can be checked step by step.

The limit is the one that matters most here. The register stops at an active “no registrable person” statement, so no UK filing names CD&R as Morrisons’ owner. That attribution is reported and officially documented elsewhere — in the CMA’s review of the acquisition and in the parties’ own statements — but it is not register-verified, and the £7bn and £2.5bn figures are reported rather than filed. Companies House does not verify most filed information.