Mohsin Issa’s EG Group has paid off hundreds of millions of pounds in debt in its latest attempt to shore up its finances.
The petrol station empire said it had cleared its immediate debt obligations after selling off a string of forecourts and convenience stores.
This includes a recent deal to offload the last remaining part of its UK business to Zuber Issa, cementing a recent split with his brother Mohsin.
EG also sold 19 Mini-Mart convenience stores in the US earlier this month, with both deals generating around $400m (£315m) in cash.
Those funds have since been used to help pay large chunks of EG’s debt.
New figures show the company’s debt pile stands at $5.27bn, down from $10bn in January 2023.
EG is understood to have paid off hundreds of millions of pounds of debt in the last few months alone, which has resulted in rating agency Moody’s upgrading its outlook from negative to stable.
The payments come after years of scrutiny regarding the high levels of debt at EG Group, as Mohsin and Zuber used vast borrowings to build a global empire.
By September 2021, the brothers had turned EG into one of the world’s largest independent forecourt and convenience store chains, with thousands of sites across the US and Europe.
However, surging interest rates have driven up the cost of its debt, which recently led to EG selling off large parts of the business.
Last year, EG Group sold off the majority of its UK petrol stations to Asda, another company bought by the Issa brothers, in a deal worth around £2.3bn.
The move to break up EG Group has formed part of the brothers’ attempt to carve up their empire.
Zuber Issa in June said he was stepping down as co-chief executive of EG Group, leaving Mohsin to run the business alone.
This came after Zuber also announced he had sold a 22.5pc stake in Asda to TDR Capital, meaning the private equity giant now holds 67.5pc of the supermarket.
Mohsin Issa has retained a 22.5pc stake, while Walmart holds the remaining 10pc.
Zuber is now running the group of UK forecourts acquired from EG Group, where he remains a shareholder and non-executive board member.
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