Asda sold for £6.9 billion
While the headline may seem surprising there is more to this particular £6.9 billion deal than meets the eye. The deal is in fact part of a larger restructuring at US parent Wal-Mart which has in effect sold Asda to a company called Corinth Services Ltd for only £200 million more than its original purchase price back in 1999.
The new owner of Asda is actually part of the Wal-Mart group of companies and many believe this particular deal has its basis in UK tax law and is tax efficient with regards to Wal-Mart's UK investments. When you consider that Corinth Services Ltd only has seven employees who are all directors of Asda it begins to fall into place and is nothing more than a holding company for the operation.
Quite what Wal-Mart is looking to do in the longer term is uncertain although it appears highly unlikely that the group would let go of its Asda operation in which it has invested heavily into over the years and pushed to the top of the UK supermarket league. The group itself is unwilling to expand upon the apparent "change in ownership" of Asda but there are no financial concerns about Wal-Mart as the company continues to go from strength to strength.
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