THE SUPERMARKET giant Asda is looking to be bought out by the billionaire petrol station tycoons, the Issa brothers.
Asda has expanded its services over its lifetime to become the first UK discounter and reshaped UK retail.
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Asda was founded in 1949 Credit: Alamy Who owns Asda?
The US retail giant, Walmart is the current owner of Asda.
However, the Issa brothers are on the verge of finalising a ￡6.8bn debt-fuelled buyout of the supermarket.
Who founded Asda and when?
The company was founded when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of Yorkshire.
During the 1920s, the Asquith family ran a butcher’s shop in Knottingly, West Yorkshire, which was eventually expanded to seven shops.
The two sons of W.R. Asquith, Peter and Fred, were actively involved in the family business and were later to become co-founders of Asda.
At the same time, a group of enterprising West Riding dairy farmers, including the Stockdale family and Craven Dairies, joined forces under the banner of Hindell’s Dairy Farmers Ltd.
Associated Dairies and Hindell’s Dairy Farmers Ltd formed a new company in 1949, with Arthur Stockdale as Managing Director.
The son of Arthur Stockdale, Noel established an immediate rapport with the Asquith brothers and the three of them developed their marketing strategies to expand their enterprise.
On the 3rd May 1965, Asda was born.
ASquith + DAiries = the birth of ASDA.
Why did Noel Stockdale and J.W. Hindell start Asda?
By the mid 1960s, Britain saw the economy boom, car sales grow, and a growing desire to shop.
Seeing the potential for cars to change the way people shop, Peter Asquith built the new supermarket next to a car park which became known as Asda Queens.
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Inspired by the Government Exchange Mart (GEM), a major US discount retailer, Asda saw the potential to expand its food store and acquire the GEM's UK stores.
Over the years, Asda expanded its products range to fill out the stores - offering general merchandise, discounted petrol stations, financial and phone services as well as groceries.
The stores' developments were considered landmark events in the development of UK retailing.