The Walton family will lose control of a sizable amount of the shares it holds in Wal-Mart following the death last week of the wife of the group’s founder Sam Walton.
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The family has revealed that the value of a “significant portion” of the shares held by Helen Robinson Walton through the family partnership will be passed to charity.
“While Helen Walton’s disposition of her Wal-Mart interest will not require sales of a substantial number of Wal-Mart shares for the next several years, it is expected that Wal-Mart shares will be disposed of over time to fund charitable programs,” the family said in a statement.
The Walton partnership holds 41% of Wal-Mart’s outstanding stock, currently valued at US$81bn. Helen Walton’s 20% stake in the partnership converts to around 8.1% of outstanding shares in the world’s largest retailer. The sale of these shares could cause a significant increase in the company’s float – the number of freely trading shares – meaning that the influence exerted by outside investors could well increase.
“If those shares were to go outside the family, it would be another step in bringing Wal-Mart deeper into the public market, where it is more readily influenced by external investors,” Deutsche Bank Securities analyst Bill Dreher said.
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By GlobalData
