Justin King, the chief executive of J Sainsbury, made clear yesterday that he wanted to stay with the supermarket chain if a bid by Delta Two is successful, even though he is likely to become a multimillionaire if a takeover happens.

Mr King, who is widely credited with leading a revival of Sainsbury’s, is set to receive about £12 million for his shares and share options if Delta’s 600p-a-share bid proceeds.

If he is made redundant within six months of a takeover, he would also receive a payout equivalent to 1.75 times his basic salary, or £1.4 million.

Mr King said: “I thoroughly enjoy this job and see myself in it in the long term, regardless of ownership.”

However, he made clear that he had not reached any agreement with Delta Two to remain with Sainsbury’s and was committed to delivering his “obligation to shareholders” until any takeover bid had been decided.

Delta is likely to want to lock in Mr King’s services with promises of a stake in the private company and a bonus scheme if its bid is successful. The bid team is also rumoured to be considering offering other staff the opportunity to roll their share options into the new company.

Shares in Sainsbury’s rose 2p to 581½p yesterday as sources said that the supermarket's pension fund deficit.

Informal agreement could be reached in the next few days before a formal offer for the company, which is expected next week.

Sainsbury’s founding family, who hold an 18 per cent stake, have said that they will not back a bid unless they are satisfied that the future funding of the company’s pension scheme has been settled.

Sources said that, particularly given the family’s vocal protestations, Delta Two was likely to wait to issue its formal bid until a deal on financing the pension fund had been formally announced — also likely to be next week.

The pension fund trustees are thought to want between £1 billion and £2 billion to underpin the pension scheme.

This is likely to be a mixture of up-front cash payments and ring-fenced assets to be handed over in the event of insolvency.

Some of Sainsbury’s considerable property portfolio could be used as security for the fund.

With a takeover by Delta Two looking increasingly likely, Mr King insisted yesterday that any move into private hands would not damage Sainsbury’s ability to fight back against its bigger rivals, Asda and Tesco.

He said: “We have been clear that the financing structure will allow the business to continue to compete.”

Mr King said that, despite the distraction of two bid attempts since February, Sainsbury’s had maintained strong performance.

Sainsbury’s said underlying sales, which exclude petrol price changes and store openings and closures, had risen 3.1 per cent in the 16 weeks to October 6, in line with analysts’ expectations.

Mr King said that the business was taking market share as its strategy of highlighting “quality” products alongside price cuts had proved popular.

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