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Sainsbury's acquires Aimia's UK Nectar loyalty program

Supermarket retailer J Sainsbury Plc on Feb. 1 said it acquired the U.K. business of Aimia Inc., giving it control of the Nectar loyalty program.

The British grocer, which also sells general merchandise through its Argos chain, in a statement said it paid £60 million for the U.K. business of Aimia, a Montreal, Canada-based company that offers data-driven marketing and loyalty program analytics.

Nectar allows members to accumulate benefits when they spend money with its 14 partners, including charge and credit card provider American Express Co., energy company BP Plc, which operates fuel stations in the U.K., and utility British Gas, part of Centrica Plc.

According to Aimia's website, Nectar had 19 million active members as of March 20, 2015.

Loyalty programs have become an important tool in customer retention for the U.K.'s largest grocery retailers in the face of stiff competition from discount retailers Lidle Dienstleistung GmbH & Co. KG and ALDI Einkauf GmbH & Co. oHG.

Tesco Plc, the U.K.'s largest retailer by revenue, in January attempted to push through immediate changes to rewards for members of its Clubcard loyalty program but was forced to delay the implementation until June 10 due to a backlash from customers.

Sainsbury's said its acquisition includes all assets, colleagues, systems and licenses required for the full and independent operation of the Nectar loyalty program in the U.K.

Sainsbury's added that it expected the transaction to be immediately cash positive and earnings accretive. It said it expected goodwill to be generated as a result of the acquisition and the alignment of accounting policies.

"Acquiring Nectar supports Sainsbury's strategy of knowing its customers better than anyone else," the supermarket operator said in its statement. "There is no change for customers as a result of the acquisition and they should continue to collect and redeem their Nectar points as normal."