First published on Thu 21 Jan 2021 08.33 EST
The billionaire brothers buying Asda have hired the former Marks & Spencer boss Stuart Rose to chair their EG Group business.
EG, a chain of 6,000 petrol stations owned by the Blackburn-based Issa brothers and the private equity group TDR, has appointed Lord Rose as non-executive chairman with immediate effect as Zuber and Mohsin Issa prepare to expand with the Asda acquisition.
The veteran retailer also chairs the online groceries firm Ocado but is due to stand down in May after more than eight years.
The appointment is a boost to EG’s corporate credentials and its expansion ambitions. The Issa brothers are buying Leeds-based Asda, Britain’s third largest supermarket chain, from the US retail group Walmart for £6.8bn, also in tandem with TDR.