Asda sale imminent, two groups place bids around £6.5bn - report

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Sep 21, 2020

The sale of UK supermarket chain Asda, which is also one of the UK’s biggest fashion sellers via its George label, could happen as soon as the end of this week.

Walmart-owned Asda is the third largest supermarket business in the country and was put up for sale following the failure of its merger with Sainsbury’s that had been blocked by the competition authorities.

This Is Money reported that the sale could be announced by Friday, although this isn’t guaranteed. It also said Walmart, which has owned the retailer for around two decades, is likely to retain a minority stake.

Two groups, Apollo Global Management and Lone Star Funds, are believed to have bid for the firm with their offers valuing it at around £6.5 billion. Apollo has been working with ex-Debenhams CEO Rob Templeman on the bid and is reportedly raising debt to buy the business, using its stores as collateral.

And reports suggested that Lone Star, which is working with ex-Asda CEO Paul Mason, has ambitious plans for the store estate with the group believed to be eyeing the space above the stores to be used for housing. This approach has already been taken by other supermarket groups.