The owners of supermarket Asda and petrol stations company EG Group will announce a £10 billion merger of their operations in Britain as early today, Sky News has reported.
Asda, Britain's third-largest grocer, and EG are both owned by brothers Zuber and Mohsin Issa and private equity group TDR Capital.
Asda, TDR and EG declined to comment on the report.
Talks about a combination of Asda and EG UK were initially reported by The Sunday Times back in January.
The entirety of EG Group, which also operates in the US and Australia, ended 2022 with net debt of $9.6 billion, while Asda ended the year with debt of £4 billion.
Sky News said the merged group will operate nearly 600 supermarkets, 700 petrol forecourts and 100 convenience stores and have revenue close to £30 billion.
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% share of Britain's grocery market, according to researcher Kantar.
Its stated goal is to overtake Sainsbury's and become the second biggest grocer in the UK. Sainsbury's has a 14.8% share.
In March, Asda reported a 24% fall in annual earnings.
