The Sainsbury family will hold out against a Qatari takeover unless funding of the supermarket chain’s pension scheme is resolved, it emerged today.

British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s today faced a storm of protest from shareholders over its decision to hand ousted chairman Peter Davis a £2.3m (€3.5m) share award.

Supermarket chain Sainsbury’s looks set to avoid an embarrassing defeat at its annual general meeting tomorrow following the intervention of the Sainsbury family.