Dive Brief:
- Tesco has asked a fifth senior executive to resign amid an accounting scandal at the U.K.'s largest grocer. Kevin Grace was asked to step down from his role as commercial director of the retailer, according to the Financial Times.
- In a separate development, U.S.-based private equity firm TPG is eyeing a $2 billion purchase of Tesco's loyalty card, according to Sky News.
- The developments come just days after U.K. regulators launched a formal investigation into accounting problems that led the retailer to overstate earnings by $408 million.
Dive Insight:
There's blood in the water in the UK grocer sector. And although all the major players are vulnerable, the accounting scandal has weakened Tesco by an extraordinary degree. Given that, it's no surprise that private equity firms are eyeing Dunnhumby, the wholly owned subsidiary that built Tesco's revolutionary loyalty card business back in the 1990s. Today Dunnhumby is widely seen as one of the world's leading providers of data services related to consumer behaviors.