Asda poised to announce £10bn merger with petrol stations group EG

theguardian.com:

Asda is finalising a deal to buy its sister business EG Group’s UK and Irish petrol forecourts in a deal worth £3bn, allowing the supermarket to step up its shift into convenience retailing.

The businesses are expected to formally announce a long-awaited tie-up, which will create a combined business worth about £10bn, in the next few days.

The two groups are owned by the billionaire Issa brothers and the private equity firm TDR Capital, and are chaired by former Marks & Spencer boss Stuart Rose.

Asda is expected to pay about £3bn for EG, supported by about £500m lent by the credit arm of US-based investment firm Apollo Global Management.

The proceeds will help EG reduce its onerous debt burden, according to Sky News, which first reported the merger timing.

Talks about a potential deal have been under way for months, as the cost of servicing billions of pounds worth of debt held by EG has surged after a flurry of interest rate rises.

About £7bn of EG’s debt is reportedly due to be repaid in 2025, piling pressure on the business, while Asda has also been squeezed by rising costs on energy, wages and its products as well as a tough consumer market as households battle with a rapid rise in the cost of living.

The new group will operate nearly 600 supermarkets, 700 petrol forecourts and 100 convenience stores and the deal is not expected to be scrutinised by the competition watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which already considers the two businesses as one because of their shared ownership.

The GMB union, which represents thousands of Asda workers, has already called on the government to block the merger, which had been anticipated, arguing it will be bad for consumers and workers.

Nadine Houghton, GMB organiser,