Asda has confirmed the completion of its around £600 million deal to buy the Co-op’s petrol forecourt business.
According to the Big 4 grocer, the deal, which is part of its plans to rapidly grow into the convenience market, will see 2.300 employees move over from the symbol group retailer to the supermarket giant.
The new focus convenience stores comes after Asda’s £6.8 billion takeover by the billionaire Issa brothers, who also own forecourt giant, the EG Group.
In August, the Co-op first revealed plans to sell its 132 petrol stations and convenience stores in a bid to boost finances, as a result, the proceedings from the sale will be reinvested into its core convenience shops, pricing, stores operations and reducing its debt burden.
“We are delighted to formally complete the transaction that we announced in August and taking the next step on our journey to creating a new and exciting part of our Asda business,” Asda co-owner Mohsin Issa said.
“As millions of families deal with the day-to-day impacts of increasing costs of living, we’re committed to bringing Asda’s great-value groceries and fuel to even more communities across the UK through these new stores.
“We look forward to working collaboratively with the CMA on their investigation and to welcoming our new Asda colleagues to our great business in the coming months.”
Asda said the the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has already issued an initial enforcement order, meaning the Co-op sites must remain separate until any probe is completed.
The supermarket giant said this process is likely to “take until mid-2023”.
This follows the CMA’s investigation into Morrisons’s parent company, Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), when it decided to sell off a number of petrol forecourts earlier this month.
