ASDA employees in Radcliffe, Bury and Pilsworth are set to share in a £6.6 million windfall as staff benefit from the recent swoop by American giant Wal-Mart.

The supermarket's workers were told this week that they would receive between £800 and £23,000 each, depending on how much they invested in a share option scheme.

The huge payouts come after the workforce swapped their Asda share options - which they bought for just 93 pence each - for Wal-Mart ones valued far higher.

As the share price more than doubled over the past three years, workers stood to receive more than twice their savings and bonus.

The news coincided with Asda's latest announcement of price-cuts in its supermarket war against main rivals Tesco, Sainsbury's and Safeway.

Workers under the Asda's Sharesave scheme saved between £5 to £250 a month for three years with a 20 per cent discount on the share price.

They are now being given the option of becoming a Wal-Mart stockholder as part of the firm's Colleague Share Ownership Plan.

Allan Leighton, Asda's chief executive, said: "We believe that the colleagues who contribute to the success of the company should share in the rewards."

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