The brothers who have bought Asda for £6.8billion have appointed retail veteran Lord Rose as chairman of their petrol station empire.
Zuber and Mohsin Issa hired the former Marks & Spencer boss amidst concerns over governance at EG Group, fuelling speculation the pair are preparing the ground for a multibillion-pound stock market listing.
The Issas, who are from Blackburn, built the firm from a single forecourt in Bury to a giant with 6,000 sites and 44,000 staff on three continents.
Safe hands: Zuber and Mohsin Issa, the brothers who bought Asda for £6.8bn, have appointed former Marks & Spencer boss Lord Rose (pictured) as chairman of their petrol station empire
But they have been scrabbling to win back confidence after auditor Deloitte resigned in October.
There are also concerns over the eye-watering £7billion debt mountain used to fund its rapid expansion overseas.
Rose, a Conservative life peer, is due to retire as chairman of online supermarket Ocado in May.
The 71-year-old said: ‘The Issa brothers are great British entrepreneurs of enormous drive, vision and ambition. EG’s board has asked me to develop appropriate governance structures for a business of this scale.’
Rose is expected to be handsomely paid for the role, adding to the fortune he has built over a glittering 40-year career on the High Street.
EG, which has previously said it could consider a listing, said nothing had been decided yet, but the group’s co-owner, TDR Group, said Rose’s recruitment was ‘a clear signal of our ambition for EG Group’.
The group reported sales in excess of £17.6billion for the year to December 2019. The Issas bought Asda in October.
The deal is being investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority, which could ask EG to sell some petrol stations, but it is expected to complete this year.
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