EG Group: Petrol station operator to exit Australian market with £530m deal
Petrol station operator EG Group has entered into an agreement to sell its Australian business to Sydney-based Ampol, in a move which will mark EG’s exit from the Australian market.
EG Group said the transaction values its Australian business at an enterprise value of A$1.1bn (£0.53bn), with the proceeds set to be used to further reduce the group’s debt.
The move comes after EG Group announced on Monday that it had agreed to sell its Italian business in a €425m (£367m) deal.
The firm said the sales come as part of a wider strategy to develop its core market operations and strengthen its balance sheet.
Speaking on the latest deal, Russ Colaco, CEO of EG Group, said: “This transaction is a significant milestone in our ongoing efforts to streamline EG Group’s global portfolio and sharpen our focus on the markets where we see the largest growth opportunities.
“We remain fully focused on executing our strategy and building a platform for further growth, with our world-class grocery & merchandise, foodservice and fuel retail proposition.”
Completion of the deal is expected by mid 2025, EG Group said.
EG Group was first founded in 2001 by British billionaire brothers, Mohsin and Zuber Issa. The firm was launched with a single petrol station in Bury.
In late 2023, EG Group announced that it had sold its UK and Irish operations to its sister business, Asda, for £2.27bn. The move that brought 350 petrol stations into Asda’s portfolio.
Stuart Rose, who chairs Asda and EG Group, said at the time that the deal would: “create a consumer champion like the UK has never seen”.
In 2020, the Issa brothers purchased Asda from Walmart in a £6.8bn deal, receiving backing from TDR Capital.
Last year, however, Zuber Issa sold his stake in the supermarket chain to TDR, bringing TDR’s share in Asda to 67.5 per cent, while Moshin Issa kept a 22.5 per cent stake in the firm.
The Financial Times reported on Sunday last week that Zuber Issa had called for EG Group to sell its over $5bn (£3.68bn) US forecourt business.
He posed the US sale as an alternative to private equity backer TDR Capital’s proposed plan for an initial public offering of the entire EG Group, adding that he believed the move would “get to a clear end goal much quicker”.
Zuber Issa holds a 25 per cent stake in EG, as well as a seat on the firm’s board, but stepped down as the company’s co-chief executive last year.
TDR holds 50 per cent ownership of the firm
EG Group posted revenues of $24.2bn (£17.8bn) last year