ASDA has completed the acquisition of 132 grocery retail sites, with attached petrol stations, from Co-op with three sites in North Wales part of the deal.

The acquisition was initially announced at the end of August for a cash value of £438m (total value of £600million with lease liabilities), and brings 129 existing sites and three development sites into the Asda fold.

The North Wales sites affected are at Coedpoeth near Wrexham, Old Colwyn, and at Rhuddlan.

They will continue to run as Co-op sites for around a year, and despite the sale of the sites being formally completed and under Asda ownership, the deal remains subject to regulatory approval from the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority).

The CMA has issued an ‘Initial Enforcement Order’ requiring that the Co-Op sites remain entirely separate from Asda whilst the CMA conducts it investigation into the deal – a process that is expected to be completed by mid-2023.

During that time, the stores will be run separately to the Asda business and colleagues will only be able to transfer to Asda’s employment only following formal approval of the transaction.

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Around 2,300 colleagues currently employed by Co-op will move to Asda’s employment under TUPE transfer when approval is granted.

Mohsin Issa, co-owner of Asda said: “We are delighted to formally complete the transaction that we announced in August and taking the next step on our journey to creating a new and exciting part of our Asda business.

"As millions of families deal with the day-to-day impacts of increasing costs of living, we’re committed to bringing Asda’s great value groceries and fuel to even more communities across the UK through these new stores.

“Over the last five years we’ve been consistently ranked as one of the cheapest providers of fuel in the UK and have been voted the Grocer’s best priced supermarket for 25 years in a row – meaning customers in these communities can look forward to saving millions annually on the cost of filling their shopping trolleys and tanks when Asda comes to town.

“We look forward to working collaboratively with the CMA on their investigation and to welcoming our new Asda colleagues to our great business in the coming months.”