Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Asda owners to announce £10bn merger with EG group: report

More than 20 million customers pass through Asda stores and EG’s UK forecourts each week

THE owners of supermarket Asda and petrol stations company EG Group will announce a £10 billion merger of their operations, Sky News reported.

Asda, Britain's third-largest grocer, and EG are both owned by brothers Zuber and Mohsin Issa and private equity group TDR Capital.


According to the report, the announcement is expected on Friday (26).

In January this year, The Sunday Times reported talks about a possible merger.

The entirety of EG Group, which also operates in the US and Australia, ended 2022 with net debt of £7.8bn, while Asda ended the year with debt of £4bn.

The report said that the merged group will operate nearly 600 supermarkets, 700 petrol forecourts and 100 convenience stores and have revenue close to £30bn.

Banking sources told Sky News that Apollo Global Management is set to offer over £500m of private placement debt to finance the acquisition of Asda by EG UK.

Apollo was one of the top contenders in the sale of Asda from Walmart in 2020. The deal, which is expected to generate synergies of over £100m, will involve lenders such as Barclays and HSBC, with Barclays also providing advisory services alongside Rothschild.

The combined group will own commercial real estate assets worth more than £9bn, while approximately £7bn of EG's debt is scheduled to be repaid in 2025.

The £1.25bn acquisition of EG UK by Asda will establish one of the largest private sector employers in the UK.

It said the deal would accelerate Asda's drive into the convenience store sector.

Asda, which trails market leader Tesco and Sainsbury's, has a 13.9 per cent share of Britain's grocery market, according to researcher Kantar.

Its stated goal is to overtake Sainsbury's and become Britain's No. 2 grocer. Sainsbury's has a 14.8 per cent share. In March, Asda reported a 24 per cent fall in annual earnings.

Competition watchdogs have already scrutinised the implications of Asda and EG being controlled by the same shareholders when the acquisition happened three years ago.

Following the Asda-EG transaction, EG UK will maintain its headquarters in Blackburn, Lancashire, while Asda will continue to be based in Leeds, Yorkshire.

More For You

UK-Bahrain-deal-Getty

Prime minister Keir Starmer with Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa of Bahrain ahead of bilateral talks at 10 Downing Street on June 19, 2025 in London. (Photo: Getty Images)

UK-Bahrain £2bn Investment Deal: All you need to know

THE UK and Bahrain have signed a £2 billion investment and collaboration partnership aimed at supporting key sectors of the UK economy, including financial services, technology, manufacturing, and clean energy.

The Strategic Investment and Collaboration Partnership (SIP), announced on June 19, doubles the £1 bn investment committed in 2023.

Keep ReadingShow less
Octopus Energy Unveils Smart Home EV Charger to Slash Charging Costs

It follows a broader strategy by Octopus Energy to offer home energy hardware

Getty Images

Octopus Energy unveils first smart home EV charger to cut charging costs

Octopus Energy, the UK’s largest electricity supplier, has launched its first home electric vehicle (EV) charger, named Octopus Charge. The charger is designed to integrate with the company’s smart energy system to enable cost-effective and environmentally friendly charging.

Smart charging through Kraken platform

The new Octopus Charge device connects to the energy supplier’s proprietary Kraken platform, which automatically adjusts charging to coincide with times when electricity is cheapest and greenest. This enables EV owners to take advantage of lower rates and reduce their carbon footprint.

Keep ReadingShow less
Record-breaking data breach

The data is spread across 30 different datasets

iStock

Record-breaking data breach exposes 16 billion credentials, raising global cybersecurity concerns

A massive new cybersecurity report has revealed what experts are calling the largest data breach in history, involving over 16 billion login credentials. The records, uncovered by researchers at Cybernews, appear to come from a variety of sources and have raised alarm bells across the tech and cybersecurity industries.

Unprecedented scale of exposure

The data is spread across 30 different datasets, with individual troves containing between tens of millions and more than 3.5 billion credentials each. In total, the exposed records add up to 16 billion, a staggering number that equates to more than two credentials for every person on Earth.

Keep ReadingShow less
leaders discussed the new Defence Cooperation Accord between the UK and Bahrain,

The leaders discussed the new Defence Cooperation Accord between the UK and Bahrain, aimed at deepening joint military training and naval ties.

Crown Prince of Bahrain's website

UK and Bahrain strengthen defence and investment ties

PRIME MINISTER Keir Starmer met Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, prime minister of Bahrain, at Downing Street on Thursday.

A Downing Street spokesperson said the leaders discussed the UK-Bahrain relationship and welcomed the UK becoming a full member of the Comprehensive Security Integration and Prosperity Agreement (C-SIPA), a trilateral pact with Bahrain and the United States focused on regional security.

Keep ReadingShow less
Swiss banks

Funds held in customer accounts by Indian clients rose by 11 per cent in the year to 346 million Swiss francs (£3.14m) and accounted for about one-tenth of overall funds.

iStock

Indian funds in Swiss banks triple to £3.1bn in 2024

INDIAN money in Swiss banks more than trebled in 2024 to 3.5 billion Swiss francs (£3.1bn), attributed to a rise in funds held through local branches and other financial institutions, annual data released by Switzerland's central bank showed on Thursday (19).

However, funds held in customer accounts by Indian clients rose by 11 per cent in the year to 346 million Swiss francs (£3.14m) and accounted for about one-tenth of overall funds, the report showed.

Keep ReadingShow less