In Europe, Walmart entered Germany by acquiring the 21 unit Wertkauf hypermarket chain in 1998 and 74 lnterspar stores in 1999. The company entered the United kingdom in the 1999 by acquiring the 229 stores ASDA Group. Walmart was the second-largest supermarket chain in the United kingdom by 2011, with 371 stores, but it has been losing ground to industry leader Teaco Plc. These acquisitions allowed advanced and competitive European retail market.