Billionaire brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa have reportedly sold a stake in forecourt giant EG Group to two Canadian pension funds and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund.
The Canadian funds are Alberta Investment Management Corporation, which is part of the consortium that owns London City Airport, and PSP Investments, the pension fund for Canadian public services.
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority will increase its stake in the company.
While EG Group has confirmed investments, it declined to share details terming it as a “private matter”.
“We are delighted that our shareholders have been able to attract high-quality investors; that demonstrates confidence in them and their ability to generate stakeholder value. The investment will not result in any change to the ownership of EG Group, proceeds will not be for use by EG Group, and will have no effect on our business,” said a spokesperson for the group.
“Given that the investment is a private matter for our shareholders, we are not able to comment further.”
The Issa brothers last month acquired supermarket chain Asda from Walmart for an enterprise value of £6.8 billion in partnership with private equity firm TDR Capital, which also owns part of EG Group.
The latest stake sales value the group, which operates more than 6,000 forecourts around the world, at £15.2 billion.
EG Group’s EBITDA during the three months to September 30 increased by 90.5 per cent to £363 million, despite an 18 per cent drop in like-for-like sales, driven by reduced sales of fuel and lower fuel retail prices.
The group’s foodservice channel has contributed a 74.8 per cent spike in gross profit to £85 million.
Gross profit in its grocery and merchandise category grew 51.9 per cent to £284 million, while fuel service gross profit increased 44.2 per cent to £391 million.
