Bestway Group has purchased a 3.5% stake in Sainsbury’s, but has claimed it is not considering a takeover offer for the Big 4 grocer.

The deal, which could be worth around £193 million, is for 80.7 million shares in the supermarket giant. The wholesale group has claimed to hold the shares for investment purposes and to support the executive management team. It added that it may look to purchase more shares “from time to time”.

However, the group is not considering an offer for the supermarket chain at this time, it confirmed.

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“We will engage with Bestway Group in line with our normal interactions with shareholders”, Sainsbury’s confirmed in a statement.

Bestway is said to be the seventh largest family-owned firm in the UK with a turnover of about £4.5 billion. It also owns symbol group retailer Costcutter, and acquired Well Pharmacy from The Co-op Group in 2014.

This comes as Sainsbury’s recently announced its new partnership with fashion company Sosandar to sell a curated collection of its products through the Big 4 grocer.

Through the agreement, a selected range will begin to be sold through the supermarket giant’s website this year,  with selected stores planned later this year as Sainsbury’s increases its collaborations with fashion brands.