Romance: Victoria Price and Mohsin Issa at an awards ceremony in 2018
Asda’s co-owners could avoid millions of pounds in stamp duty if one sells its shares in the debt-laden grocer to the other.
The supermarket chain was bought from the American Walmart in 2021 by Mohsin and Zuber Issa and purchasing group TDR Capital.
But the company’s future ownership has been thrown into doubt amid reports that Zuber is looking to divest his 22.5 percent stake.
It follows the Ny Breaking’s revelation that Mohsin has abandoned his wife of 30 years and is in a relationship with Victoria Price, a former tax partner at EY, Asda’s accountant.
Her lawyers say Price disclosed her relationship with Mohsin Issa to EY “from the outset” and that EY confirmed to her that she had met all her obligations and provided all appropriate information to the ethics and compliance teams throughout her career from the company.’
Zuber, who invested just £100m in cash with his brother when they bought Asda, is said to want at least £500m for his shares. Sources say the most likely buyer is TDR.
Each buyer would normally have to pay 0.5 percent stamp duty on the purchase price, suggesting a tax bill of around £2.5 million.
But in a letter in response to questions from Liam Byrne, chairman of the Business and Trade Select Committee of MPs, Mohsin Issa confirmed that ‘there may be a stamp duty saving’ because three of his holding companies are based in Jersey, where a such a tax does not exist. consists.
Mohsin confirmed that ‘no companies in the Asda ownership structure’ had been established in jurisdictions outside England and Wales to try to avoid tax on their income ‘through favorable tax status’.