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Wal-Mart Restructures Asda Ownership

Wal-Mart has shifted the ownership of its Asda division here to be under the purview of a different subsidiary, according to reports yesterday.

LONDON — Wal-Mart has shifted the ownership of its Asda division here to be under the purview of a different subsidiary, according to reports yesterday.

The reports said Wal-Mart sold Asda to Corinth, a holding company that previously had been a subsidiary of Asda, for about $9.6 billion. Wal-Mart did not explain why it executed the change in ownership structure took.

"Corinth is the new parent company of Asda Group, having previously been a subsidiary," The Telegraph here reported a Wal-Mart spokesman as saying. "As part of good financial management of our business we will, from time to time, alter that structure as appropriate." The spokesman added that Asda's ownership had never changed hands before under Wal-Mart.

The newspaper said the change means that Corinth will receive Asda's dividend payments. The paper also said filings in the U.K. showed that Asda had 2008 profits of about $873 million, down slightly from a year ago.

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