Proactive Investors - Asda owners the Issa brothers have told ministers that the supermarket has “no gaps” in its finances amid questions over its debt.
“I can assure you there is no gap in the accounts signed off by our auditors,” Mohsin Issa said during a Business and Trade Committee hearing on Tuesday.
He did confirm, however, that Asda has some £4.2 billion of debt on its books, with costs of servicing a proportion of this set to increase early next year.
"We can give you the confidence that it is run properly," Issa added.
"What I would say is that the debt leverage at the start of the year was at 4.2 times, that has gone down to 3.8 times and that trajectory is to go down even further.”
Asda is the UK’s third largest supermarket behind Tesco PLC (LON:TSCO) and J Sainsbury PLC (LON:SBRY) and employs some 151,000 people.
Mohsin and Zuba Issa bought the chain from US supermarket Walmart (NYSE:WMT) in 2021 through a highly leveraged deal.
The pair had found fame after founding EG petrol station group, which Asda subsequently bought for £2 billion in October.
MPs also quizzed the Asda owners over the supermarket’s complex structure, with the company comprising 16 entities, many of which are registered offshore.
"A structure like this is not unusual for a large corporation like Asda,” Issa responded. “All of these companies are tax registered and pay tax in the UK.”