Sainsbury willing to ask for bid extension - paper

LONDON, March 21 (Reuters) - The chairman of Britain's J. Sainsbury (SBRY.L) is prepared to extend a deadline set for a private equity team to make a bid provided "meaningful discussions" continue, the Times reported on Wednesday.

At present, a consortium of CVC Capital Partners [CVC.UL], Blackstone Group [BG.UL], Kohlberg Kravis Roberts [KKR.UL] and Texas Pacific Group [TPG.UL] has until April 13 to make a formal bid for the British supermarket chain.

Chairman Philip Hampton, however, was quoted by the newspaper as saying he would be willing to ask Britain's takeover watchdog to extend the deadline for the consortium "as long as they were not wasting our time."

A comment was not immediately available from Sainsbury.