// Asda owners Mohsin and Zuber Issa have attracted global investors
// The owners have sold shares to an Abu Dhabi sovereign investor and two Canadian pension funds
Asda’s new owners Issa brothers have reportedly offloaded a stake worth hundreds of millions of pounds in their EG Group business.
The petrol stations giant led by billionaire brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa, have sold shares to an Abu Dhabi sovereign investor and two Canadian pension funds, Sky News reported.
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is topping up its existing stake in the group, which owns more than 6000 petrol forecourts across the globe.
READ MORE: Now that it’s returned to British ownership, what’s next for Asda?
Canada’s Alberta Investment Management Corporation, which owns London City airport, and PSP Investments, the pension fund for Canadian public services, have also snapped up stakes in the group from the brothers.
The share sales value EG Group at more than $20 billion (£15.2 billion).
EG Group’s EBITDA during the three months to September 30 rocketed 90.5 per cent to $478 million (£363 million ), despite an 18 per cent drop in like-for-like sales, driven by reduced sales of fuel and lower fuel retail prices.
EG Group hailed profitability across all of its categories.
However, food service led the charge with a 74.8 per cent spike in gross profit to $112 million (£85 million).
Gross profit in its grocery and merchandise category grew 51.9 per cent to $374 million (£284 million), while fuel service gross profit increased 44.2 per cent to $515 million (£391 million).
Such figures have come under increasing scrutiny since the Issa brothers teamed up with TDR Capital to buy Asda from Walmart in a £6.8 billion deal last month.
EG Group said its 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,” the group confirmed.
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