Sainsbury’s buys Nectar from Aimia

The purchase, which includes all assets, colleagues, systems and licences, means it now has control of all the Nectar loyalty card data.

In a statement, Sainsbury’s said that acquiring Nectar supported its “strategy of knowing its customers better than anyone else”.

It said the acquisition would not change the loyalty scheme and that customers could continue to collect and redeem their Nectar points as usual.

The supermarket said the transaction would be immediately cash positive and earnings accretive.

Sainsbury’s has been part of the Nectar loyalty programme since it started in 2002.