Convenience store and petrol station giant Couche Tard is the most likely buyer of the EG Group.
The Canadian firm are understood to have held talks with the Issa brothers about a sale two years ago and have kept in touch since.
The Issas and TDR Capital, co-owners of EG, are working with advisers from Rothschild, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Barclays to examine strategic options for the business, which has grown at breakneck speed to span 6,000 forecourts across the UK, continental Europe, America and Australia.
While industry sources argue that a full, £15bn sale of EG Group is unlikely, given plans to integrate it with Asda, which the Issas and TDR Capital recently bought, a sale of its international operations is thought to be likely.
