Zuber and Mohsin Issa of the EuroGarages (EG) Group have been eyeing the stakehold of Asda for a couple of weeks since February. A recent Bloomberg report indicates that Blackburn-based billionaire brothers are now jointly bidding with TDR Capital to accquire the foodchain.
Their interest in the merger was implicitly confirmed by a spokesperson of the company who in a statement to the Asian Voice said, “Both Mohsin and Issa are extremely busy and in the middle of an accquisiton”.
The brothers opened their first site in Bury in 2001 and have built an empire in the form of EG Group which has expanded across nearly 6,000 locations. Born to immigrant parents who came to Britain in the sixties “with nothing” on their backpack, their Gujarati father worked in the textile industry when he arrived to the UK.
Now, EG Group is the largest independent petrol station operator, employing over 25,000 people and records an annual revenue of approximately £15 bn. The next feather in their cap can be the accquisition of Asda. However, other competitors in the bidding process include Apollo Global Management and Lone Star Funds. Previous reports indicate that private equity firms Apax Partners and KKR, the former Boots owner, have also held discussions with Walmart.
Asda had failed to reach a negotiation with the Sainsbury’s despite Walmart selling off the former at £7.3bn in 2018. However, the merger was blocked by Competition Markets’ Authority, a government watchdog. Now, Asda has hired Rothschild to advise on a sale or stock market float.
