The sale of Somerfield to the Co-operative Group, one of the final private equity exits before the market for large acquisitions collapsed, should be completed in the next two months, according to the supermarket’s management.

In the six months to November 8, Somerfield recorded like-for-like sales growth of 5.4 per cent in a confident end to its independent ownership in results due to be published Friday. Paul Mason, chief executive, said: “We are pleased with that performance in the past six months; that places us in between Tesco and Morrison.”