Asda eyes up HMV

Nationwide supermarket chain Asda could be looking to pen a deal that will see it take ownership of beleaguered high street retailer HMV.

Following HMV descent into administration by Deloitte, the Wal-Mart owned supermarket has reportedly been putting together a bid for the chain, according to The Sun.

The report cites an inside City source, who claims the company hopes to secure HMV's 120 remaining branches and plans to retain its 2,400 members of staff.

"Asda has been looking at HMV and it's not about taking on a few stores to convert into supermarkets," explained the source, adding: "They’ve been looking at taking on the brand — the business."

Deloitte and specialist retail investor Hilco recently sung the praises of suppliers to the battered chain, saying that they were offering support during the difficult time.

Nick Edwards, of Deloitte, commented last month: "The support of suppliers over the past few weeks has been significant and these agreements demonstrate their ongoing commitment to supporting HMV."

James Lee

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James Lee is a freelance writer and analyst with extensive experience in the technology, media and games sectors. For the past few years he has provided content for internationally published industry reports, SEO companies and a variety of news-focused websites. Prior to this, James was responsible for covering news and producing in-depth features for GamesIndustry.biz while occasionally contributing to its sister-site. Eurogamer.net. In addition to this he has contributed to other notable sites such as CVG.co.uk, Edge-Online and DigitalSpy.