// Asda has suspended its drawn-out search for a new chief executive
// The big 4 supermarket chain has been without a boss since last August
Asda has temporarily suspended its search for a new chief executive to succeed Roger Burnley, with Mohsin Issa understood to be heavily involved in day-to-day operations of the supermarket chain.
Britain’s third biggest grocer has been without a boss since last August, when Roger Burnley left ahead of schedule after a disagreement over strategy with Asda’s new owners.
The Issa brothers, the petrol forecourt tycoons, and TDR Capital, the private equity investor, completed their £6.8 billion takeover of Asda last year and since then Mohsin Issa, 50, is said to have been spending the bulk of his time at the grocer’s headquarters in Leeds.
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Asda has 633 stores in the UK and 145,000 employees and the search for a replacement for Burnley, 55, has been going on for more over a year.
In that time it is understood that top contenders for the role including Tesco UK and Ireland boss Jason Tarry, M&S food boss Stuart Machin, Morrisons chief operating officer Trevor Strain and outgoing Pets at Home chief executive Peter Pritchard have all turned down the job.
According to The Times, the role has been described by insiders as “the job no one wants” as Burnley’s successor would be expected to play second fiddle to new owners the Issa brothers’ and recently-appointed chair and former M&S boss Lord Stuart Rose.
When Rose joined Asda he said that appointing a new chief executive was “a priority for the board”, but it is now understood that the existing structure will be left as is for the time being.
After a flurry of senior exits following the takeover by the Issa brothers and TDR Capital last year, Asda has strengthened its executive bench in recent months. The grocer has poached Nisa boss Ken Towle to run its store operations, and longstanding Tesco director Kris Comerford has been appointed as commercial director of its food business.
It is understood that these appointments have meant there is now sufficient grocery expertise on the board to pause the search for a chief executive for the time being.
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