Mohsin and Zuber Issa’s EG Group has paused plans to launch an initial public offering on the US Nasdaq this month over fears that market instability could see the company achieve a lower valuation than planned.
The flotation was expected to achieve a $9bn (£6.8bn) valuation, but a recent trend has seen investors around the world sell off government bonds, pushing the cost of borrowing up and causing market instability.
The Financial Times reports any flotation is now unlikely to take place this year, while the delay raises the possibility the firm could be sold, rather than floated, with Zuber Issa said to favour the latter.
EG Group is half-owned by private equity firm TDR capital, with the remaining half split equally between the Issa brothers. The firm operates 3,300 forecourts and convenience stores across the US and Europe, including around 160 Starbucks in the UK, though it recently exited the Italian market, as well as selling its 540 Australian forecourts.
The company is currently undergoing a rebrand, with its new ‘Cumberland Farms’ name being taken from a US convenience-store firm it acquired in 2019, and giving it a fresh image with which to position itself in its key North American market, alongside greater differentiation from UK forecourt firm EG On The Move.
