British supermarket Sainsbury's on Wednesday announced the departure of chief executive Mike Coupe, who failed to merge the group with US-owned rival Asda last year.

"After almost six years as CEO and fifteen years working for Sainsbury's, Mike Coupe has confirmed his intention to retire later this year," the company said in a statement, adding he would continue in the role until the end of May.

Retail and operations director Simon Roberts will succeed Coupe on June 1 at Sainsbury's, which is the nation's second biggest supermarket company after retail king Tesco.

Back in May 2019, Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regulator blocked a mega-merger of Sainsbury's with Walmart-owned Asda.

In a controversial twist after the Asda deal announcement in April 2018, Coupe was forced to apologise after he was caught on camera between media interviews singing "We're in the Money".

During his tenure, Coupe oversaw the purchase of catalogue retail chain Argos and furniture merchant Habitat in 2016.

In Wednesday morning deals, Sainsbury's shares shed 1.04 percent to 210.20 pence on London's FTSE 100 index, which added 0.1 percent in value.

"Mike Coupe at last read the writing on the wall, bit the bullet and fell on his sword after the Asda merger debacle," noted Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson, adding: "Questions persisted over his leadership after the CMA blocked the deal."

In recent years, traditional retailers like Sainsbury's have faced fierce pressure from online retailers like US titan Amazon -- while low-cost German discounters Aldi and Lidl have rapidly expanded in Britain.

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