Symbol group retailer the Co-op is in talks to sell 130 of its petrol stations for £450 million, in a big to cut its debts and strengthen its balance sheets as the UK braces for a recession.
Sky News reported investment bank Rothschild is understood to be advising the group on a sale, with sources claiming the business was expected to be sold to a trade buyer.
However, a potential deal could be agreed in upcoming weeks.
If the sale of the Co-op’s forecourt arm goes ahead, it will be the latest in a series of divisions to have been offloaded by the Co-op over the past decade.
READ MORE: Co-op teams up with Uber Eats to grow rapid delivery service
As a result, the group is hoping to reduce its borrowings with the deal at a time where inflation is soaring and the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite.
Raising a further £450m from the sale would help tackle the group’s net debt, which skyrocketed to £920 million, up from £695 million in 2019, pre-pandemic and £550 million in 2020.
The news follows the appointment of Co-op’s first female CEO in 159 years, Shirine Khoury-Haq.
She first joined the group in the summer of 2019 as its new chief financial officer and has previously been COO at Lloyd’s of London for five years and also held senior roles at Catlin and IBM earlier in her career.
Click here to sign up to Grocery Gazette’s free daily email newsletter
