Asda private equity owner TDR Capital is to provide evidence to the Business and Trade select committee on 9 January.
It comes after GMB Union, which campaigns for Asda workers across the UK, and the supermarket’s bosses gave evidence to MPs during a committee session in December, which TDR Capital did not attend.
During the session, Asda chief financial officer Michael Gleeson said the company’s debt interest bill would increase by as much as £30m in February when £500m of loans will switch from a fixed to a floating interest rate.
These loans form part of the debts taken on by Asda to finance the business’s acquisition in February 2021, when billionaire brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa and TDR Capital bought the supermarket in a £6.8bn takeover.
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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 added: “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.”
This comes as the strike at an Asda superstore in Gosport has been suspended to allow for ‘last-ditch’ talks between the supermarket and GMB Union.
Industrial action at the store will now take place on 15 January, with up to 100 workers expected to walk out over a “toxic atmosphere”.
