Zuber Issa has agreed to his exit from Asda with the sale of a 22.5% stake to fellow owner TDR Capital in a deal flagged some week ago as part of a move to separate his business interests from brother Moshin.
Asda will now be owned 67.5% by private equity group TDR, 22.5% by Mohsin Issa, and 10% by Walmart, once the deal completes.
No financial details were released, but Zuber Issa is also standing down from he and his brother’s EG Group after buying its forecourts and food outlets.
Zuber Issa said: “With the divestment of my Asda shares, I will now turn my attention towards leading and managing the remaining EG UK forecourt sites that I have personally acquired.”
The two billionaire Issa brothers built their empire in petrol stations through a string of debt-fuelled acquisitions.
Mohsin Issa has denied any rift with his brother, but Asda has been a strain on the business in recent months with the highly leveraged takeover leaving the supermarket facing rapidly increasing interest payments due to sharply rising money market rates.
The supermarket has also been losing market share steadily to rivals in a fiercely competitive grocery market.
EG Group recently refinanced all of its debt while last month Asda said it had refinanced £3.2 billion in loans.