British food retailer J. Sainsbury Plc is in exclusive talks to buy TM Group, the convenience store and newsagent chain, for about 230 million pounds ($433 million), according to The Sunday Times.
The newspaper said Sainsbury could seal a deal for the owner of the Martins and Forbuoys chains within two weeks.
Sainsbury, Britain's third biggest supermarket, declined to comment. Montagu Private Equity, one of TM Group's backers, could not immediately be reached.
A deal would mark a second purchase in the fast-growing convenience stores segment in the space of a month for Sainsbury, after it bought 54 Bells stores in north-east England for an undisclosed sum.