Tesco share price slides as Sir Martin Sorrell confirms WPP’s Dunnhumby interest
Sir Martin Sorrell, the boss of the world’s largest advertising group WPP, has confirmed the company is interested in buying Tesco’s data arm Dunnhumby.
Speaking at the Media & Telecoms conference in London, Sorrell said he was interested in the business behind the supermarket’s Clubcard loyalty scheme which was essentially put up for sale in January.
Shares in Tesco slid as much as three per cent, evening out gains made yesterday amid mounting speculation that the ad group has made a bid for the business, which is estimated to be worth as much as $2bn.
Tesco brought in Goldman Sachs in January to explore options for Dunnhumby as part of the widespread cost cutting and downsizing of Tesco under chief executive Dave Lewis.
This had sparked widespread interest from a number of parties, including WPP and private equity firms.
On the table is likely to be a majority stake in Dunnhumby rather than a full blown selloff as Tesco did with its digital entertainment business Blinkbox, as Dunnhumby is still a money-spinner for the Supermarket.
Tesco shares fell as rival supermarket Sainsbury's kept up the pressure in the increasingly competitive sector with better than expected results.