Tesco to buy UK wholesaler Booker for $4.64 billion

Britain's biggest supermarket Tesco said it would buy the country's largest cash and carry wholesale supplier Booker in a recommended share and cash merger which valued Booker at about 3.7 billion pounds ($4.64 billion).

"This merger with Booker will further enhance Tesco's growth prospects by creating the UK's leading food business with combined expertise in retail, wholesale, supply chain and digital," Tesco CEO Dave Lewis said in a statement on Friday.

Tesco said the deal, which represents a value of 205.3 pence per Booker share, a premium of 12 percent on Thursday's closing price, would result in Booker shareholders owning about 16 percent of the combined group.