Following the acquisition of Asda, a major UK supermarket chain, for approximately $8 billion in 1999, Walmart has now relinquished ownership to a consortium comprising the Issa Brothers and TDR Capital. The proposed acquisition by Sainsbury’s in 2019 was derailed by UK monopolies regulators as being anti-competitive. The new owners of Asda will have to invest heavily in enhanced technology and rationalization of the chain to be competitive against larger chains and the deep 
discounters Ald and Lidl.
Walmart elected to withdraw from the highly competitive UK supermarket space and to use the proceeds to pay for an investment in Flipkart in India. The value of this investment is questioned given policies implemented by the government of India, disfavoring a free-enterprise business model.