World's largest retailer Walmart has reached a deal to part with its majority stake in UK supermarket chain Asda for a reported sum of 6.8 billion pounds ($8.75 million), the company said Friday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd October, 2020) World's largest retailer Walmart has reached a deal to part with its majority stake in UK supermarket chain Asda for a reported sum of 6.8 billion Pounds ($8.75 million), the company said Friday.
Private Equity firm TDR Capital belonging to UK billionaire brothers, Muhsen and Zuber Issa, will now have a majority stake in the retailer, with Walmart retaining a minority stake in the company. Exact figures were not shared.
This effectively ends Walmart's venture in the UK market which began in 1999 and has failed to replicate the company's US success story. According to the Financial Times, Walmart sold its stake for just slightly more than was paid for it.
Asda remains the third-largest retailer in the United Kingdom, behind Tesco and Sainsbury's.
In 2018, the Competition and Markets Authority blocked a merger between Sainsbury's and Asda, arguing that the move would negatively affect competition in the grocery market and lead to an increase in prices.
Walmart has been facing growing competition from online retailers, such as Amazon, and has eyed restructuring and shaving off its less lucrative ventures.
The Issa brothers began their business from a single petrol station in the Greater Manchester area in 2001 and operate over 6,000 forecourts across 10 countries.
