Zuber and Mohsin Issa, owners of Top 50 Indie the EG Group, have apparently borrowed millions of dollars from the forecourt firm to repay loans for their private jets.
According to the Financial Times – and later reported across the wider media – EG lent Mohsin and Zuber Issa’s personal private jet companies $7m in 2022, on top of the €39mn in unsecured loans it gave them to buy the planes in 2018.
Of the extra debt, $5m went to the company through which the brothers own a Bombardier Global 6000. The remaining $2m went to the company through which they own a smaller Bombardier Challenger 350.
The Financial Times’ report said the payments were a sign of how closely the brothers’ personal and professional lives are intertwined at the petrol station group.
An EG Group spokesperson said: “As previously disclosed to the Financial Times in 2022, loans to the Clear Sky companies are fully disclosed in the EG Group accounts and continue to be so. These loans have been provided at rates comparable to the average commercial rate of interest. The interest has been identified and recognised within EG Group’s finance income.”
Meanwhile, a source familiar with the matter said that EG Group provided loans to the Clear Sky companies at a commercial rate of interest to service external third-party debt. These loans are due to be fully repaid in November 2024.