Walmart Inc. on Monday said it would sell its British arm Asda Group Ltd. to rival J Sainsbury PLC, a deal that values the chain at about $7.3bln and, if successful, would create the U.K.’s largest grocer.
Walmart will hold a 42% stake in the combined company and get almost GBP3 billion in cash.
For the year to March 10, Sainsbury reported profit fell 18% to GBP309 million weighed down by one-time costs although underlying pretax profit climbed 1.4%.
As of 8.33am the stock was trading up 17.3% at 317p
52 week range: 224.8p – 281.7p