UK's Asda offers to sell 13 petrol stations to secure Co-op deal clearance

LONDON (Reuters) - British supermarket group Asda has offered to sell 13 petrol filling stations with attached grocery stores to secure regulatory clearance for its 611 million pound ($753 million) deal with The Co-operative Group.

Asda, owned by brothers Zuber and Mohsin Issa and private equity firm TDR Capital, purchased the Co-op's 132 petrol stations and attached stores in October.

However, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ruled this month that the deal could lead to higher prices or less choice in some parts of the country and ordered Asda to address its concerns to avoid an in-depth "Phase 2" investigation.

On Tuesday, the CMA welcomed Asda's proposed remedy.

"It considers there are reasonable grounds for believing that the offer, or a modified version of it, might be acceptable," the regulator said.

The CMA has until May 30 to decide if it will accept Asda's proposal.

The Issa brothers and TDR Capital also own petrol forecourt business EG Group.

($1 = 0.8120 pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Jason Neely)