Booker to buy Londis and Budgens grocery store chains

05:34 - 21 May 2015

May 21 (Reuters) - Booker Group Plc, Britain's biggest cash-and-carry wholesaler, has agreed to buy the Londis convenience store chain and the Budgens grocery store chain for 40 million pounds ($62.2 million) from privately owned Musgrave Group.

Booker said on Thursday it expects its purchase of Musgrave Retail Partners GB Ltd, which comprises the two chains, to be neutral to earnings in the first year before adding to its earnings thereafter. ($1 = 0.6436 pounds) (Reporting by Aastha Agnihotri and Roshni Menon in Bengaluru; Editing by Robin Paxton)