Blackburn based EG Group has announced the sale of 415 sites on the east coast of America.

The sale to Realty Income Corporation for approximately £1.25bn ($1.5bn) will be used to pay off debt, the company has announced.

The portfolio – which EG America will continue to operate and trade – comprises 415 store assets under the Cumberland Farms, Fastrac, Tom Thumb and Sprint banners.

EG Group said it received a 'high degree of interest from multiple blue-chip investors and attractive terms for the transaction'.

In the summer of 2019 The EG Group acquired Cumberland Farms. At the time purchase of Cumberland Farms took the EG Group’s network to a total of nearly 1,700 stores across the country, operating in 30 states.

This latest deal is expected to be finalised in the second quarter of 2023, subject to closing conditions, and the group will use net proceeds to repay debt.

The asset is said to represent 15% of the group’s total freehold property in 10 markets. Following completion, EG will pay an initial rent of £85.8m ($103m) per annum on these assets.

Zuber Issa, CBE co-founder and co-CEO of EG Group, said: “Today’s announcement demonstrates the progress we continue to make to put in place a robust capital structure for the medium term that will underpin our long-term strategy and represents an important first step in this process.”

The company said 'the transaction is in line with management’s commitment to reduce total net leverage through debt reduction and free cash flow generation, as communicated in EG Group’s third quarter update in November 2022'.

The EG Group currently employs more than 50,000 staff working in over 6,600 sites across the UK&I, Europe, USA and Australia.

New York Stock Exchange-listed Realty Income is an S&P 500 company structured as a real estate investment trust.

Its monthly dividends are supported by the cash flow from over 12,200 real estate properties primarily owned under long-term net lease agreements with commercial clients.

EG said it was advised by Eastdil Secured, the global real estate investment bank, alongside Barclays, Latham & Watkins, Skadden, Arps, Slate and Meagher & Flom, Rothschild & Co, and EY.