Co-op completes £611m sale of forecourts

The Co-operative Group has completed the £611m sale of 129 petrol forecourts and associated groceries to Asda, it told the London Stock Exchange this morning.

The deal, announced in August, includes three planned petrol stations yet to be built, and represents 5% of the Co-op’s total real estate.

Asda was bought in 2021 by Blackburn-based petrol station moguls Mohsin and Zuber Issa and TDR Cpaital, their private equity partner. The Issas already own around 700 forecourts, 323 of them under the Asda brand.

The Co-op said sale proceeds will be reinvested into its leading core convenience business, pricing, store operations, technology, and logistics, as well as to further support the reduction of its net debt.

The acquisition is subject to review by the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA), which has issued a competition enforcement order requiring the Co-op forecourts remain separate from the Asda brand until it has completed its review, probably by the middle of 2023.

Mohsin Issa, co-owner of Asda said; “We are delighted to formally complete the transaction that we announced in August and taking the next step on our journey to creating a new and exciting part of our Asda business.

As millions of families deal with the day-to-day impacts of increasing costs of living, we’re committed to bringing Asda’s great value groceries and fuel to even more communities across the UK through these new stores. Over the last five years we’ve been consistently ranked as one of the cheapest providers of fuel in the UK and have been voted the Grocer’s best priced supermarket for 25 years in a row – meaning customers in these communities can look forward to saving millions annually on the cost of filling their shopping trolleys and tanks when Asda comes to town.

“We look forward to working collaboratively with the CMA on their investigation and to welcoming our new Asda colleagues to our great business in the coming months.”

The circa 2,300 colleagues currently employed by The Co-op will move to Asda’s employment under TUPE transfer in the coming months, following consultation with USDAW, subject to approval by the CMA.

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close