Mohsin Issa is officially stepping back from his executive leadership role at Asda to focus on his previously announced position as sole CEO of EG Group.
Asda chairman Stuart Rose will assume Issa’s executive responsibilities alongside TDR Capital partner and director of the supermarket’s board, Rob Hattrell.
Hattrell formerly ran eBay in Europe and spent seven years at Tesco, serving as its CIO.
Issa will remain co-owner of Asda and non-executive on the board.
Lord Rose said said: “We respect Mohsin’s decision to move on from his role at Asda where his work is complete to be the sole CEO of EG Group. We are very grateful to Mohsin for the role he has played in overseeing Asda, including launching into the growth market of convenience stores and introducing a loyalty app now used by more than six million customers.
“He has laid the foundations to deliver a world-class IT infrastructure, strengthening Asda for the long term. I look forward to continuing to benefit from his insight as a non-executive director on our board.”
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Issa added: “I am very proud of the highly experienced team we have built, and the significant progress made to build a bigger and better Asda over the last three years, as well as our unwavering commitment to provide customers with uncompromising value.
“Given these achievements and the significant strategic steps we have taken, I have decided now is the right time for me to step back from my oversight role at Asda to focus on EG Group as sole chief executive.
“It is a very exciting time for EG Group, and I am looking forward to focusing on the business while supporting Stuart, Rob and the leadership team in my capacity as a shareholder of Asda.”
The grocer has said it is continuing its search to recruit a CEO to lead the business in the next phase of its strategy and that it will update on this in due course.
It comes as last month, Rose admitted he is “embarrassed” by the supermarket’s performance and said Issa should step back from the day-to-day management of Asda.
He stated: “I wouldn’t encourage him to [intervene in operations], and I am the chairman. We need a full-time, fully experienced retail executive to come in.”
“We always said Mohsin was a particular horse for a particular course. He is a disrupter, an entrepreneur, he is an agitator.”
“We’ve added a significant number of stores and we’ve changed a lot but it now needs a different animal. In the nicest possible way, Mohsin’s work is largely complete.”
