U.S. grocery chain Kroger Co. announced yesterday (April 27) that it is acquiring the data analytics assets of dunnhumbyUSA and more than 500 of its employees to form a new consumer insights company called 84.51°, which will be owned entirely by Kroger. As stated in the press release, Stuart Aitken, who previously led dunnhumbyUSA, will become the chief executive officer of 84.51°. According to Bloomberg, this buyout indicates that Tesco — the largest supermarket chain in the U.K. and parent company of dunnhumby Ltd. — is ever more likely to sell off the customer-data subsidiary, a move that Tesco first indicated was a possibility back in January. Bloomberg reports that analysts estimate a potential sale of dunnhumby would bring Tesco about $3 billion, a sum that would likely go toward paying down the grocery chain's debt of $33 billion.