Proactive Investors - Asda's owners have denied allegations that the supermarket was profiteering from fuel prices during the cost-of-living crisis, despite an investigation finding it had increased prices ahead of rivals.
TDR Capital, the private equity firm which owns the grocer in partnership with billionaire brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa, denied the allegations when asked during a Commons business and trade select committee hearing led by MPs.
“There wasn’t a strategy to bump the price of fuel or to make a larger profit in fuel,” the US company said.
Jonathan Gullis, a Conservative MP, accused Asda of exploiting the crisis by raising prices at the forecourt, claiming that “people were being ripped off at the pump”.
The Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) found last year that Asda's fuel margin target had tripled between 2019 and 2023.
Asda also deliberately delayed passing on price reductions in areas where there was no competition, the CMA added.
Gary Lindsay, managing partner of TDR Capital, argued that Asda had suffered reduced profits after investing large amounts to help “support customers through an incredibly tough time”.
TDR Capital, which backed the Issa brothers in the £6.8 billion acquisition of Asda from Walmart (NYSE:WMT) in 2020, faced questions about its corporate structure's complexity.
MPs likened it to a "snakes and ladders board" and raised concerns about transparency.
TDR argued that its use of holding companies in Jersey aimed to facilitate a tax-efficient sale and not to obscure finances.