Senior Asda sources have rubbished reports of the supermarket chain's plans of a £4.4 billion takeover of discount retailer B&M. Sainsbury's takeover of Argos last year has seen to have paid off by strengthening food sales, while Tesco's £3.7 billion takeover of Booker triggered consolidation talks between convenience retailers. Asda senior sources, however, said that there was no truth to speculation that it was mulling a takeover of the company and said Walmart, its US-based parent company was in charge of mergers and acquisitions.
Trevor Green, fund manager at Aviva Investors, which holds a 0.3 per cent stake in B&M, said any deal would require Walmart to “pay up for a growth business.” “The customer fit between the two is obviously excellent and there would be other obvious revenue and cost synergies. But the big question is whether Walmart is willing to write a cheque for £4.4 billion to increase its exposure to the UK market.”
