The household ‘feud’ and a grocery store big in disaster

The billionaire Issa brothers suffered the latest blow to their business empire yesterday after it emerged that the eldest, Mohsin, would be stepping back from running Asda – ending the family’s control of the supermarket giant. 

Mohsin, 53, will remain co-owner of the supermarket alongside private equity firm TDR Capital, but will relinquish his executive role in favour of retail veteran Stuart Rose. 

Younger brother Zuber, 52, had already headed for the exit, stepping down as co-chief executive in June and selling his stake to TDR Capital amid reports of a rift between the brothers. 

That rift is believed to have emerged after Mohsin left his wife of 30 years for a glamorous high-flying accountant.

Now, Lord Rose, who previously said he was ’embarrassed’ by the grocer’s recent performance, has taken the reigns from the brothers as he battles to boost the ailing retailers fortunes. 

It marks the end of a turbulent few years for Mohsin Zuber, who made their fortunes founding the petrol forecourt empire EG Group before taking over Asda from Walmart for £6.8billion three years ago. 

The moment provided a high point of the pair’s rags-to-riches story, which took them from a terraced house in Blackburn to the pinnacle of British business as they were hailed for bringing Asda back into British control.

However, that proved to be the peak of their fledgling empire as they faced disagreement and chaos at boardroom level while Asda suffered tumbling sales and consumer anger.  

Mohsin was forced to address the rumours earlier this year by insisting they still got on ‘exceptionally well’.

He is believed to have struck up a rapport with Victoria Price, a 41-year-old partner at ‘Big Four’ accountancy firm EY, while she was hosting EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in November 2018. The pair are now living together in an £18million home in Yorkshire. 

In February, Mohsin was understood to be in process of divorcing his wife, Shamim, whom he married three decades ago. They have two children in their twenties; daughter Mariya and son Sauban. 

A source familiar with the matter told The Times: ‘It’s been a sensitive situation. Family-run businesses have a different chemistry, and the breakdown in relations between the brothers has made the business side of things more difficult.’

The switch in leadership comes as Asda continues to lose ground to its rivals, with sales falling and its market share dropping from 13.1 per cent to 11.8 per cent over the last year.

Lord Rose said last month: ‘I don’t like being second, third or fourth,’ he said, ‘and if you look honestly now at the comparative numbers of Kantar or whatever index, we are not performing as well as [we] should be. I don’t like that.’

He added he would urge Mohsin to step back from the day-to-day running of the business, saying: ‘I wouldn’t encourage him to [intervene in operations], and I am the chairman.’

He added that Mohsin’s work was ‘in the nicest possible way, largely complete’, while the man himself had already signalled in March that he planned to hand over the daily running of the chain.

Asda is Britain’s third-largest supermarket but has been losing market share to Aldi and Lidl.

The business revealed last month that its sales dropped further over the latest quarter as it lost more customers to its largest rivals.

It saw total revenues, excluding fuel, rise 2 per cent for the first half of 2024, although like-for-like sales slipped by 2.1 per cent.

Revenues in the second quarter of the year were down 2.2 per cent, with a 5.3 per cent like-for-like decline, as its sales slump accelerated.

Saddled with debts of over £4billion, it has spent nearly two years looking for a chief executive after Roger Burnley quit following the brothers’ buyout.

Meanwhile, the brothers’ ownership of Asda has seen a shift in their relationship. 

Sources say that the two brothers’ families previously lived side by side in grand homes inside a gated compound in Blackburn. 

Mohsin and Zuber founded EG Group in 2001, one of Europe’s largest independent fuel retailers.

The company began as one petrol station that the brothers ran in Bury, Greater Manchester.

It then became Euro Garages, with locations across the UK, before private equity giant TDR Capital came onboard.

The business then became EG group, and expanded into Europe.

The EG Group has acquired brands including Cooplands, Cumberland Farms, Go Fresh, Leon and Loaf ‘N Jug.

The Issa brothers separately bought supermarket giant Asda with TDR Capital.

The billionaire brothers agreed to buy the Co-op group’s petrol stations for £600million in 2022. 

The sale saw five per cent of Co-op’s entire retail estate – including 129 petrol stations and three development sites – handed over to Asda, which already ran 323 petrol stations across the UK. 

The brothers saw off a number of rival bids to seal the deal, reportedly increasing their offer from £450million to £600million.

In May 2022, the Issa brothers also lodged last-minute bids to take control of the collapsed corner shop chain McColl’s.

But Morrisons won the battle to take over, securing the future of 16,000 jobs and 1,100 shops. 

The supermarket giant fended off competition from the billionaire brothers, after a takeover tussle.

McColl’s lenders initially rejected an offer from Morrisons that would have seen it take on the firm’s debts and repay them over time. 

Yet the supermarket chain returned with an improved deal that would see the lenders repaid in full immediately, satisfying one of McColl’s key demands.

The brothers story is an extraordinary one of rags to riches.

The two billionaire brothers turned a single petrol station in Bury into an empire of 5,900 branches before they bought Asda.

The pair, whose parents came to Britain from India ‘with nothing’, built EG Group from one site bought for £150,000 in 2001 into a £9billion giant employing 44,000 staff. 

The brothers were worth an estimated £3.56billion, which included a £25million Kensington townhouse and a private jet that is kept in a hangar at Blackpool Airport alongside Donald Trump‘s personal helicopter. 

As the children of immigrants who moved to Blackburn from Gujurat, India, in the 1970s, Mohsin and Zuber Issa – who were born in the former mill town – quickly learned the importance of hard work.

Their first experience of business was selling petrol from their parents’ filling station, where they would have their big idea that would revolutionise the industry and make their millions. 

Petrol sales were in decline and fuel duty on the rise, cutting into already wafer-thin fuel margins and leading to hundreds of operators leaving the market.

At the time most garages – if they sold food at all – offered a measly selection of pre-packaged sandwiches, crisps, sweets and chocolate.

But the Issas realised fuel sales still had a purpose in creating a captive market at petrol stations, who could then be offered appetising food rather than the gruel offered elsewhere

The brothers struck franchise agreements with brands including Starbucks, Subway and KFC, before embarking on a buying spree to snap up sites that had previously become vacant.

Describing the secret of their success, Zuber told the Financial Times: ‘We wanted to create a destination where you could get fuel, food-to-go and shopping.

‘This is the formula and it works. 

‘We were fortunate that the big players were leaving the market just as we were growing.’

‘They never in their wildest dreams would have imagined 5,500 gas stations in nine markets,’ senior executive Ilyas Munshi told the American trade magazine CSP.

‘If they had only 20 sites, they would have felt they had done their job.’

As proud Lancastrians, the brothers have insisted on keeping EG Group’s headquarters in Blackburn, and recently unveiled a new £35million headquarters.

‘People are always asking when we will move to London or Manchester,’ Zuber told the FT.

‘But the quality of life here is great. A lot of people do a few years in London then come to the North West.

‘They want to raise a family and have less pressure. We have got a lot of fantastic people that way.’

Mohsin has a wife Shamim, and their son and a daughter both work for EG.

Both brothers rarely give interviews and have adopted a low-key public profile. 

They are now building five identical ‘super-sized’ homes three miles from their childhood home.

Despite the fierce opposition, which saw the council face 30 letters of complaint, eight old houses have now been demolished and builders have laid foundations for the five 5,000 square foot mansions.

Plans for the large houses, which are located on a quiet rural road outside Blackburn where houses sell for up to £1million, were lodged in April 2018.

They sparked an uproar, with the properties described as ‘not in fitting with the local area’ as the homes stand over 4.5 metres taller with 1,500 square metres of floor space.

But planning permission was granted and pictures taken earlier this year showed builders had already moved in.

In 2017, the pair purchased a £25million mansion in Knightsbridge, which estate agents said could be worth £80million when planned renovations are carried out.

Their Grade II listed Georgian house is also at the centre of a long-running planning row.

The previous owner began digging a basement and left a vast 30ft-deep crater the size of two tennis courts, described by horrified neighbours to ‘Hitler’s bunker’.

When finished the luxury 22,000 sq ft home will have a huge underground car park, a swimming pool, spa and cinema. 

The brothers donate 2.5 per cent of their earnings to charity through the Issa Foundation, which funds hospitals and provides free breakfasts for children in Lancashire.