Asda has attracted several interested private equity firms for a potential takeover which, according to reports, could value the business at over £7bn.
Apollo Global Management, TDR Capital and Lone Star Funds are all understood to be in the running to buy the UK grocery chain from its parent company Walmart following the second round of bidding, according to Bloomberg.
The interest from private equity comes as Walmart seeks to offload its majority stake in Asda to focus on its US operations, having failed to get a proposed merger with Sainsbury’s past the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) last year.
Private equity firm TDR Capital is understood to be bidding jointly with Europe’s largest fuel and forecourt operator EG Group, which operates chains including Esso and Shell and is owned by run by billionaire brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa.
TDR is based in London and has approximately €8 billion invested in medium-sized European businesses. Apollo is one of the world’s largest private equity firms, with around $331 billion under management, while Dallas-based Lone Star managed approximately $95bn.
Asda operates a 639-strong store network across the UK, approximately 75% of which it owns freeholds for.
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