Asda boss Roger Burnley to depart after £6.8bn takeover by billionaire Issa brothers

Chief executive will leave the British supermarket chain next year

Asda CEO Roger Burnley will leave the position next year. Reuters

The chief executive of Asda, Roger Burnley, will leave the British supermarket chain next year, the company said on Thursday, a month after the billionaire Issa brothers and private equity group TDR Capital completed their purchase of the group.

Mohsin and Zuber Issa bought a majority holding in Asda from US company Walmart, giving it an enterprise value of £6.8 billion ($9.5bn).

Mr Burnley, 54, rejoined Asda in 2016 and has been chief executive since 2018. The group said he would depart after it has transitioned fully to new ownership and once his long-term successor was in place.

Asda is Britain's third largest supermarket group after market leader Tesco and Sainsbury's.

“My decision to leave Asda is personal and something I wanted to communicate to my colleagues as soon as I could," said Mr Burnley.

"Whilst I remain fully committed to leading this great business for the next year and delivering our strategy, it is right to plan for a managed succession process well in advance."

Asda said a process would commence shortly to appoint a new chief executive who could commit to leading the business over the long term.

While the Issa brothers/TDR deal completed on February 16, it still requires regulatory approval, with the parties subject to an enforcement order from the Competition and Markets Authority to ensure Asda continues to operate independently from its buyers while it conducts its investigation.

The authority has set an April 20 deadline for a ruling.

The brothers and TDR contributed £780 million to the deal, with the rest financed through £3.5bn of debt, the sale of Asda's 322 petrol forecourt sites to their own EG Group for £750m and the sale of its distribution centres.