EG Group Billionaire Urges Swift Sale of US Petrol Empire Amid Tensions With TDR Capital

Zuber Issa, one of the billionaire brothers who built EG Group into a global petrol forecourt force, is urging the company to divest its $5 billion US business in preference to a full flotation. Issa, who retains a 25 percent stake in EG Group, has suggested that a direct sale of the American forecourt operation to a single buyer would deliver swifter resolution and allow the group to address mounting debt more effectively.

The Blackburn-born Issa brothers, Zuber and Mohsin, have transformed EG Group since their first acquisition in Bury, Manchester back in 2001. By acquiring sites from major oil players and merging with TDR Capital’s European Forecourt Retail Group in 2016, they scaled the business to over 5,500 sites employing nearly 40,000 people.

Current company ownership is equally split between the Issa brothers and TDR Capital. The private equity house has been advocating for a group-wide public listing in New York, but Zuber Issa’s recent comments signal an apparent diverging strategy. He told the Financial Times that auctioning the US assets would be a more definitive and expeditious method, one that appeals to interested buyers and directly tackles the company’s heavy debt load.

This proposal comes after a year of significant boardroom shifts. Zuber Issa stepped down as co-chief executive, now serving as a non-executive director and pivoting to new ventures after purchasing EG’s final forecourts in the United Kingdom. Earlier this year, EG Group reviewed plans to shed European assets in France and Germany as part of efforts to reduce debt before any prospective flotation.

The group’s ambitious expansion was largely financed through borrowing. With rising interest rates placing strain on balance sheets, asset sales are seen as a necessary step to restore financial stability. The US segment, in particular, remains the strongest revenue driver across EG’s nine country footprint, making its fate central to the future of the group.

The Issa brothers’ track record also includes the headline-grabbing £6.8 billion acquisition of Asda in 2021 with TDR. Associated ownership dynamics have since evolved, with Zuber handing his 22.5 percent Asda stake to TDR, handing them greater control over the supermarket chain. Both EG Group and TDR Capital have declined to comment on developments as shareholders continue to weigh the decisive next step for the business.