Morgan Stanley has negotiated the sale of Kings Super Markets for long-term client Marks & Spencer Group, the UK retailer, three years after starting to look for a buyer.

D'Agostino, a privately-owned US food group, will pay $160m (€162m) in cash for Kings Super Markets, a US food retailer. Marks & Spencer bought Kings Super Markets in 1988 for $110m, and the group was put up for sale in 1999 by Peter Salsbury, Marks & Spencer's chief executive at the time. Morgan Stanley was advising on the search for a buyer, but no deal materialised.