The chief executive of Asda, Roger Burnley, is set to leave the British supermarket chain next year, a month after the billionaire Issa brothers and private equity group TDR Capital completed their purchase of the group.
Mohsin and Zuber Issa bought a majority holding in Asda from U.S. giant Walmart, giving it an enterprise value of £6.8 billion.
Burnley, 54, re-joined Asda in 2016 and has been CEO since 2018. The group said he would depart after it has transitioned fully to new ownership and once his long-term successor was in place.
Asda is Britain's third largest supermarket group after market leader Tesco and Sainsbury's.
'Managed Succession'
“My decision to leave Asda is personal and something I wanted to communicate to my colleagues as soon as I could," said Burnley. "Whilst I remain fully committed to leading this great business for the next year and delivering our strategy, it is right to plan for a managed succession process well in advance.
“It has been a great privilege to play a leading role at Asda over the last five years – putting in place a clear strategy for long-term sustainable growth and doing the right things for our customers, colleagues and the communities we serve."
Asda said a process would commence shortly to appoint a new CEO who could commit to leading the business over the long-term.
CMA Approval
While the Issa brothers/TDR deal completed on 16 February, it still requires regulatory approval, with the parties subject to an enforcement order from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to ensure Asda continues to operate independently from its buyers while it conducts its investigation.
The CMA has set a 20 April deadline for a ruling.
The brothers and TDR contributed £780 million to the deal, with the rest financed through £3.5 billion of debt, the sale of Asda's 322 petrol forecourt sites to their own EG Group for £750 million and the sale of its distribution centres.
News by Reuters edited by Donna Ahern, Checkout. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
