The billionaire owners of Asda and petrol forecourt giant EG Group have sold dozens of convenience stores in the US in a bid to combat its piling debt.
The Issa brothers have offloaded 63 sites in Kentucky and Tennessee to US-listed Casey’s General Stores.
They said that the new owner is expected to retain the impacted employees at each store, which trade under the Minit Mart and Certified Oil banners.
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It is the latest group of assets to be sold off by the Issa Brothers as they look to pay down billions pounds worth of debt built up from their retail empire expansion.
Based on company accounts,The Telegraph estimates the EG Group’s debts stood around $9.67bn (£7.6bn) at the end of 2022. However, the group said in June that it expects its net debt to fall to $5.4bn (£3.9bn) once all transaction are complete.
Co-founder and co-chief executive Zuber Issa said: “EG Group is pleased to have found a new home for some of our Certified Oil and Minit Mart portfolio.
“This divestment will enable both parties to execute their strategic plans, respectively.
“For EG Group, this divestment also represents another important step in executing our deleveraging strategy.”
The brothers’ deleveraging strategy saw a sale and leaseback deal agreed with Realty Income in March for $1.5bn on 415 sites. EG Group will pay an annual rent for the properties of $103m.
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