The pension trustees of J Sainsbury are seeking an urgent meeting with Delta Two, the Qatari-backed fund that is trying to buy the supermarket chain for £10.4 billion.

A source said that the trustees were eager to confer with the Qataris and had requested a meeting as soon as possible. That could happen this week, but the source said it is too early for the trustees to set the sum they would demand from a potential buyer. The source said: “They can’t do that until they know exactly what the buyers’ plans are, such as where the pension fund stands in terms of creditors and how leveraged the deal will be.”

According to the company’s latest reported accounts, for 2007, Sainsbury has a pension deficit of £103 million, down from £658 million last year, on a fund with £4.4 billion of liabilities.

Under new pension laws, trustees must be consulted in takeovers. Some trustees have the power to block a deal if they do not like the funding offered to the scheme by the bidder.

Although the deficit is small, trustees typically seek a much bigger amount from potential buyers to cater for any future reduction in cashflows that will affect the company’s ability to pay into its scheme. In the case of the failed CVC bid for Sainsbury earlier this year, the trustees sought a minimum of £1 billion.

News that the pension trustees are cranking up the pressure on Delta Two comes as the Sainsbury family has also written to the Qatari Prime Minister to emphasise their objection to a highly-leveraged buyout of the supermarket chain.

Lord Sainsbury of Turville and Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover wrote to Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani after a meeting between the family and the Qatari side, which took place earlier this month in Sardina.

In the letter, they emphasised that they would not back any acquisition of the company that left it heavily indebted, that failed to satisfy the demands of the pension trustees or that sold off any of its valuable property assets.

It is understood that Delta Two yesterday replied to the family, giving guarantees that no property would be sold, although the company would be split into two, with the property assets housed in a separate unit for financing purposes. “We also told them that we weren’t going to weaken the company’s competitive position by loading it up with excess debt,” one source said.

Delta Two is still waiting for a response to its 600p-a-share offer from Sainsbury’s board. The fund is seeking about two weeks of due diligence to firm up its offer. However, it is understood the board is concerned about opening the books for a bid that requires 75 per cent of shares – including the 18 per cent held by the family – to be voted in approval for it to pass.

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