UPDATE 1-EG fuels IPO talk by picking retail veteran Rose as chairman

(Adds detail)

By James Davey

LONDON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - British-based convenience store
and fuel retailer EG Group named industry veteran Stuart Rose as
non-executive chairman on Thursday, raising expectations of a
stock market listing.

Rose, a former CEO and chairman of Marks & Spencer,
is due to retire as chairman of online grocer Ocado in
May after more than eight years in the role.

EG, jointly owned by brothers Zuber and Mohsin Issa and
private equity firm TDR Capital, trades from more than 6,000
sites across 10 countries, including Britain and Ireland, the
United States, Australia, Germany and France.

A spokeswoman for EG, which has previously said an initial
public offering (IPO) could be considered in the future, said
nothing had been decided yet.

"The Issa brothers are great British entrepreneurs of
enormous drive, vision and ambition. EG’s Board has asked me to
develop appropriate governance structures for a business of this
scale," Rose, who is 71 years old, said in a statement.

TDR Capital partner Gary Lindsay said Rose's recruitment was
"a clear signal of our ambition for EG Group".

Several companies have recently announced plans for IPOs,
including Dr. Martens and Moonpig, seeking to cash in on rising
investor interest in UK equities.

Separate from their investment in EG, the Issa brothers and
TDR agreed last October to buy a majority stake in Asda from
Walmart in a deal which gave the British supermarket
chain an enterprise value of $8.8 billion

That deal is subject to regulatory approval, which is
expected in the first half of 2021.
(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Jason Neely and Alexander
Smith)