A&O advises on the financing for Asda’s acquisition of EG Group’s UK and Ireland business

Asda, Britain’s third-largest grocer, has entered into an agreement to acquire EG Group’s UK and Ireland business consisting of c. 350 petrol filling station sites and over 1,000 food-to-go locations. The transformational combination will create a group with combined revenues of nearly GBP30 billion a year serving around 21 million customers each week. The transaction is expected to close in Q4 2023. Asda and EG Group are both owned by brothers Zuber and Mohsin Issa and private equity group TDR Capital.

The transaction will be funded by a combination of debt and equity, including c. GBP450 million of equity being provided by the shareholders, GBP770 million of term loan debt provided by Apollo-managed funds, as well as c. GBP1.1 billion from property related transactions.

The A&O team advising on the term loan was led by leveraged finance partner Annette Kurdian and high yield partner John Kicken supported by associates Sampada Bannurmath, Hershil Kotak and Oriana Yeung.

The A&O team advising on the other debt financing aspects of the transaction was led by leveraged finance partners Denise Gibson and Alice Smith and high yield partner Marwa Elborai supported by senior associates Luke Newling and Odysseas Theofanis, and associates Nicole Crockford and Lachlan Shaw.