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Private equity-backed petrol station company EG Group has fired the starting gun in a New York stock market listing, which is expected to come as early as this year.

The initial public offering, which could value the business at about $13bn, will allow TDR Capital to cash out some of its investments more than a decade after it was first backed by the billionaire Blackburn brothers. Issa.

Zuber Issa, who co-founded EG with his brother Mohsin but stepped down from management last year, told the Sunday Times newspaper that “the road map has now begun” to an IPO, which is expected to materialize. this year or next, considering different options. for the group for some time.

EG will likely float under the name of Cumberland Farms, the American convenience-store operator it bought in 2019, a person familiar with the matter confirmed.

The decision by two of the UK’s most high-profile traders and TDR to list their US business is another blow for the London stock market, which has faced a drought of new offerings and high profile defect.

The brothers started a gas station, near where they grew up in Blackburn, Lancashire in 2001. They expanded the energy business to more than 5,500 sites in nine countries, partly through loans. -fueled acquisitions facilitated by their tie- in TDR.

TDR and Issas currently own about 50 percent each of EG.

Zuber said the choice of New York was driven by the fact that despite the business’s roots in northern England, more than half of its revenues are now in the US.

He also cited the presence of other listed rivals in North America, such as Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard and Nasdaq-listed Casey’s General Stores, which makes it easier for investors to benchmark performance. In 2022, there is speculation that Alimentation Couche-Tard and EG are in merger talks.

“If we still had (most of) our assets in the UK, we would have a closer look at an IPO in the UK,” Zuber told the Sunday Times.

EG no longer has any UK convenience store and petrol forecourts, after selling most of them to supermarket group Asda, a sister business also owned by TDR Capital and Mohsin.

EG, of which Zuber remains a shareholder and non-executive director, delivered an underlying profit of $1.1bn for the year to December 31 2023, on revenues of $28.3bn. It also cut the net debt burden from about $10bn in January 2023 to $5.3bn at the end of September last year.

Although the brothers were only in talks to buy Asda from Walmart in TDR in 2020, Zuber sold his stake in the private equity group last year, formalizing a split.

Zuber suggested that his reason for withdrawing from EG was due to TDR’s desire to pursue an IPO at a faster pace than he was comfortable with. Mohsin currently runs EG as the sole chief executive.

“TDR has supported EG since 2014 and whatever decision (to be made) by EG is driven by the board and a decision made by the company,” a person close to TDR said.

“The idea that it’s driven by shareholders goes too far. It’s not about an exit, it’s about positioning the business for (the) next phase of growth.”

TDR and EG declined to comment.