EG billionaire boss Issa: 'I've not done bad'

Mohsin Issa, pictured on the right next to his brother Zuber, one half of the so-called "billionaire brothers" who own the EG Group and UK supermarket chain Asda, says he plans to hand over the running of the UK's third biggest supermarket.

In his first broadcast interview, the entrepreneur told the BBC he was carrying out a "reset" at the grocer before appointing a chief executive. Despite Asda's £5bn debt pile, Mr Issa said he was "here for the long haul".

He also dismissed rumours of a rift with his brother Zuber, saying the pair "get on exceptionally well".

"We talk to each other probably two or three times a day. We've been very, very privileged. We have been on a journey and we have got a long way still to go," he told the BBC.

It has been quite a journey. Until now the British-Indian Issa brothers have preferred to stay out of the media spotlight, giving no interviews while they built a business empire spanning 10 countries.

They have made it big time - so big the double act was listed 40th on the Sunday Times' Rich List last year with a net worth of £5.05bn.

"We've not done bad to be honest," chuckles Mr Issa at the opening of Asda's 1,000th store in Stevenage. "It surpassed our dreams and visions."

Asked if they hate being called the billionaire brothers, he replies: "It's not a tag you want to be associated with, absolutely not. But I suppose that's what people call it and I suppose it is what it is."

The pair, from Blackburn, had humble beginnings, and ran their own individual businesses before jointly purchasing their first petrol station in Bury, Greater Manchester, in 2001.

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