Updated May 02, 2018 08:59:42

The chief executive of UK supermarket giant Sainsbury's has been filmed singing We're In The Money, just hours after announcing the company would buy rival Asda.

Mike Coupe was preparing for an ITV interview to discuss the $13.3 billion merger deal when he was caught on microphone singing a song from the musical 42nd Street.

"We're in the money, the sky is sunny, let's lend it, spend it, send it rolling along," he sings before sipping his coffee.

He later apologised, after ITV posted the footage to social media, saying he was sorry if anyone was offended.

"This was an unguarded moment trying to compose myself before a TV interview," he said in a statement.

"It was an unfortunate choice of song, from the musical 42nd Street which I saw last year."

The value of Mr Coupe's 1.28 million shares in Sainsbury's rose by almost $1 million after the deal's announcement.

Sainsbury's said on Monday it would buy Asda, owned by Walmart, for about $13.3 billion, in a bold attempt to overtake long-time leader Tesco as Britain's biggest supermarket group by market share.

AP/Reuters

Topics: human-interest, business-economics-and-finance, united-kingdom

First posted May 01, 2018 21:34:25