J Sainsbury, the UK supermarkets group, faced several worries 18 months ago. Its performance had slipped, it had a hole in its pension fund of almost £600m, and it faced the possibility of its credit rating being cut to junk status.
On top of this, it was rapidly approaching the point where it would have to refinance about £800m of its £1.7bn worth of unsecured bonds. According to one banker close to the company, this refinancing was a material risk to its ongoing survival.
