EG GROUP, owned by Blackburn's billionaire Issa Brothers, has built on its American expansion with a newly announced partnership with a leading software company.

The company will be partnering with PDI Software to implement a new SmartPay system, which will allow customers to pay through an app created by the company in the 1,700 convenience stores it owns across North America, as a means of shoring up and expanding its operations across the continent.

This comes after a period of rapid expansion across the USA, with the Blackburn headquartered company recently having acquired the Cumberland Farms and Westborough shopping chains and having partnered with pizza company Sbarro to open a selection of eateries.

EG Group founder and co-CEO Mohsin Issa said: "We've seen significant consumer adoption at the locations where we've implemented our SmartPay programme.

"We're excited to extend our partnership with PDI so we can quickly offer this valuable service to an even larger segment of our loyal customer base."

The Issa Brothers' company first established its American base in 2019, which quickly put the company on the map with the purchase of Colorado-based Shrader Oil in November 2020.

Now PDI, a global provider of enterprise software solutions to retailers and petrol wholesalers, will provide technology to support customer enrolment in SmartPay and deliver ongoing customer service for program members.

The company already began implementing PDI's enterprise resource planning, fuel pricing and logistics solutions at thousands of sites across the UK, Europe and Australia last year.

Mohsin and Zuber Issa will now hope that their American operation will deepen and expand upon this partnership ahead of further expansions that they have planned.

PDI CEO Jimmy Frangis said: "We're proud to be a trusted partner in EG Group's ongoing growth and development strategy.

"Payments are such an integral part of creating a convenient, digital-first customer journey.

"We're pleased to support a respected global brand like EG Group as they provide differentiated customer experiences at the pump and in the store."