Sainsbury agrees €1.7bn takeover of Argos owner Home Retail Group

British supermarket giant, Sainsbury has agreed to buy Argos and Homebase owner Home Retail Group for about £1.3bn (€1.7bn), handing the British grocer control over hundreds of shops selling everything from jewellery to televisions as it tries to create a more potent challenger to Amazon.com.

Sainsbury will pay about 161.3p in cash and stock per Home Retail share, 63% more than the price prior to the emergence of talks.

The companies announced the terms even though they have yet to hammer out a formal offer, and have obtained a three-week extension to a UK Takeover Panel deadline that was due to expire yesterday.