Allan Leighton is to make a comeback as boss of Asda as the private equity-backed supermarket tries to turn itself around.
Leighton, 71, who made his name at Asda, will replace Stuart Rose as executive chairman. Rose will leave after a transition period.
Rose has been at Asda since 2021 and took on day-to-day running in September when co-owner Mohsin Issa stepped down.
One of Leighton’s priorities will be appointing a full-time chief executive. Asda has been trying to hire a CEO for more than three years.
His move marks a return by one of Britain’s most high profile businessmen to the company. He was chief executive of Asda from 1996 to 2001. He also chaired the Co-op for nine years.
He was an integral member of the executive team that steered Asda away from the brink of bankruptcy in the early 1990s. The Leeds-based business was taken over by US supermarket giant Walmart in a £6.7 billion deal in 1999.
Struggle: Asda has been trying to hire a CEO for more than three years
Leighton said he was ‘delighted’ to be returning and that the ‘potential for Asda now is significant’.
But he will have plenty of work to do as Asda has struggled since private equity firm TDR Capital teamed up with the billionaire Issa brothers, Mohsin and Zuber, to buy the supermarket from Walmart for £6.8 billion in 2021.
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