Asda private equity owner TDR Capital is set to give evidence to the Business and Trade select committee on 9 January.
The move follows evidence given by both GMB Union and the grocer’s bosses at a committee session before Christmas, which Asda co-owner TDR Capital did not attend.
GMB national officer Nadine Houghton said: “It’s right that MPs will finally get the chance to hold TDR Capital to account on their co-ownership of Asda.
“Too often shadowy private equity bosses are able to dodge scrutiny and do their dealings behind closed doors.”
She continued: “But workers on Asda’s shop floor deserve answers from private equity owners too, especially while Asda’s market share falls and debt levels remain worryingly high.
“Asda is part of our country’s national infrastructure. It is vitally important to get the full story from its bosses.”
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Last year it was revealed that the supermarket will see its debt interest bill exceed £400m early in 2024, driven by escalating interest rates that are piling pressure on the private equity-owned supermarket.
Speaking to the Business & Trade Committee in December, Asda’s chief financial officer Michael Gleeson said the company’s debt interest bill would rise by as much as £30m in February, when half a billion pounds of loans switch from a fixed to floating interest rate.
The £500m in borrowings are part of the debts taken on by the supermarket to finance the acquisition of the business back in 2021. Brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa bought the retailer in a highly-leveraged £6.8bn takeover alongside the private equity firm TDR.
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