GMB writes to business committee chair calling for recall
of Asda and Stonegate owner
The potential collapse of Stonegate pubs raises huge questions
over the future of Asda supermarket, GMB has warned MPs.
The pub chain, owned by TDR Capital, has been forced to issue a
profit warning as it struggles to refinance its debts.
Private equity firm TDR - which also owns Asda - previously told
a parliamentary committee it was 'very confident they would be
able to refinance the debt'.
Yet as of September 2023 – months before the committee hearing –
Stonegate's accounts showed there were 'material uncertainty'
over the refinancing plans.
In a letter to Laim Byrne MP, Chair of the Business and Trade
Committee, GMB says TDR was not up front in answers to Parliament
and asks him to recall TDR back in front of the committee.
Stonegate's collapse would put 4,400 pubs and thousands of jobs
at risk as well as raising serious concerns for the future of
Asda, employer of more than 150,000 people.
Nadine Houghton, GMB National Officer,
said:
“TDR bosses have serious questions to answer: why was the
committee told there was high confidence of refinancing
Stonegate's debts, when the accounts
reference 'material uncertainty'?
“Why did the founding partner of TDR Capital resign from the
Stonegate board on 1 December?
“How will they ensure Asda doesn't face a similar fate to
Stonegate?
“Under TDR Capital, Stonegate has been driven into the
ground.
“Now they're doing the same at Asda: slashing millions of staff
hours from the shop floor, allowing standards to decline in store
and losing market share.
“TDR Capital's private equity business model is to heap debt on
companies, then leave communities and workers to pick up the
pieces when things go wrong.”
“The collapse of Stonegate may be a dire warning of what's to
come for Asda.”
