Asda: Billionaire Zuber Issa close to selling £500m stake in supermarket giant to TDR Capital

Friday 19 April 2024 2:10 pm

Billionaire Zuber Issa is close to completing talks to sell his £500m stake in Asda to its private equity backer, TDR Capital, according to reports.

First reported by Bloomberg, Issa in the final stages of negotiations to offload his 22.5 per cent stake in the Leeds-headquartered supermarket giant.

The potential deal would give TDR Capital a majority stake in the company and could be announced in the coming weeks.

Asda was acquired from Walmart by brothers Zuber and Mohsin Issa in a £6.8bn deal three years ago with the backing of TDR Capital.

The private equity firm is also heavily invested in their petrol station forecourts business, EG Group.

It was reported in February that Zuber Issa had started talks about selling his stake in Asda while he also intends on stepping down as co-chief executive of Blackburn-headquartered EG Group.

If the deal goes ahead, Walmart would own 10 per cent of Asda while Mohsin would own 22.5 per cent and TDR Capital would hold the remaining shares.

In October 2023, the Issa brothers completed the sale of the majority of their EG Group’s UK and Ireland operations to Asda for £2bn.

The deal, which was first announced in May last year, saw the group’s UK&I fuel, foodservice, grocery and merchandise business taken on by the supermarket giant.

EG Group continues to operate in the USA, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium as well as 32 sites in the UK.

It also retained certain foodservice brands including Cooplands, its wholly-owned bakery business, as well as franchise businesses with the Starbucks, KFC, Sbarro, Chaiiwala and Cinnabon brands.

Last month Mohsin Issa confirmed he will be stepping back from the day-to-day running of Asda.

TDR Capital, Asda, EG Group and a representative of the Issa brothers declined to comment when approached by City A.M.