Wm Morrison Supermarkets has announced the sale of its petrol forecourts for £2.5 billion to pay down debt.
Some 337 outlets and over 400 associated sites for electric vehicle chargers on Morrisons’ car parks were sold to Motor Fuel Group under the move,
Morrisons took a 20% stake in Motor Fuel Group under the deal, with the duo also agreeing to commercial and supply agreements.
The Bradford-based grocer said the £1.8 billion proceeds would repay certain debt obligations and strengthen its capital structure, but could also be reinvested.
It said it intends to explore if there are "efficient opportunities to apply proceeds to debt reduction".
“[These] may include bilateral discussions with debt holders, tender offers, open market purchases or redemptions of its debt instruments across the entire capital structure," Morrisons added.
The retailer posted a £1.09 billion loss last year as growing debt saw £735 million spent on servicing costs.
The supermarket giant had held net debt of roughly £3.2 billion when it was bought by US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in 2021.
Last October, this appeared to have jumped as Morrisons’ parent company Market Topco had net debts of £8.5 billion.