Londis director Sean Donovan holds a stake in all seven shops. Fellow director Dominick Duffy was a joint-owner of one of them, while Duffy's son Killian has a shareholding in the remaining six shops. Sources close to the deal estimated that the combined turnover of the shops was in the region of 30m.

The Donovan and Dominick Duffyowned store at Rosemount shopping centre in Rathfarnham will become a SuperValu outlet, as will a shop owned by Donovan and Killian Duffy in Bettystown, Co Meath. The remaining shops at Lucan, Dublin's Newlands Cross, Naas and Balbriggan will now trade under the Centra brand. The deal was concluded early last week and all seven shops have already been rebranded.

The Musgrave-owned chains are a far bigger player on the market than ADM Londis. In 2006 its SuperValu and Centra brands achieved retail sales of 3.2bn. Combined retail sales at ADM Londis were 723m during the same year.

While neither the shop owners nor ADM Londis chief executive Stephen O'Riordan were available for comment on Friday, it is believed that the move was not the result of a dispute at board level and was down to a decision that the seven shops would benefit more from the Musgrave brands.