Unexpected billionaires in the bagging area...
Self-made brothers in £6.5bn Asda deal
£35million Euro Garages building
OLD HOME End terraced house in Blackburn
TWO billionaire brothers raised in a terraced house in Blackburn are on the brink of buying Asda.
Self-made Mohsin and Zuber Issa are part of a £6.5billion takeover of Britain’s third-biggest supermarket that could be announced this week.
It is believed Asda’s parent company, US giant Walmart, will retain a stake, although the rumoured sale price is £5billion less than it paid for the chain in 1999. The deal would cap a remarkable rise for the brothers whose parents came to Britain from India in the 1960s with little to their name.
In a barber’s shop on a sloping street where the Issas used to live, the family are fondly remembered.
“They are good people,” said one man. “Zuber used to come in here to have his hair cut. They worked hard.”
Outside, another man said: “They are well-liked people and have done well. Good luck to them.” Mohsin, 49, and Zuber, 48, started out in a garage bought by their dad, who had worked in a woollen mill. They then rented a petrol station for two years before buying their first forecourt in 2001, a derelict site in Bury, Gtr Manchester, and formed Euro Garages.
Their empire, the EG Group, now has almost 6,000 sites across 10 countries and employs 44,000 people. It also runs outlets for Greggs, Starbucks and KFC.
Zuber, who handles strategy, said: “We started [ EG] from nothing. We’ve been on the pumps, we’ve been stocking the shelves, cleaning the toilets. You do everything.” Mohsin, who runs the day-to-day business, said the company “makes more money selling a cup of coffee than we would do on an average tank fill-up”.
Sources describe the brothers, worth £3.56bn, as humble with a strong connection to their Blackburn roots. They have just opened a £35million HQ in the town.
In 2017 they bought a Grade II- listed Georgian townhouse in London’s Kensington for £25m.
They are also building five homes for their relatives in Blackburn’s millionaire’s row overlooking the rolling Lancashire hills.
The money for the Asda takeover is coming from their personal fortunes. Private equity firm TDR, which owns half of the EG Group, is expected to put in a big chunk.