Now self-made British billionaire brothers who own Asda are eyeing up US fast food chain Subway’

The self-made British billionaire Issa brothers are plotting a £8bn takeover of US fast food giant Subway, it is reported.

Tycoon siblings Mohsin and Zuber Issa, who found their wealth after founding a gas station empire, would consider swallowing up the global restaurant chain to add to their growing empire of wealth.

The pair, who own EG Group, already have Subway restaurants in some of their 6,300 petrol stations around the world, 340 of which are in the UK, thanks to franchise agreements.

But the Issa brothers are reportedly considering buying the chain outright, citing a source The sun: EG Group had felt for some time that Subway treated them the same way as other franchise partners and their tremendous growth was not appreciated.

“So what better way to show who’s boss than to own them.”

The business titans, the children of immigrants who moved to Blackburn from Gujurat, India in the 1970s, saw a rapid expansion of their business after partnering with TDR Capital.

They started with one service station in Bury, Greater Manchester, but then acquired several stations before embarking on their successful takeover of supermarket giant Asda for £6.8bn in 2021.

The deal also included the gas station chain.

Walmart was thought to be wooed by the Issas’ entrepreneurial flair and the potential to put Asda convenience stores in EG’s gas stations.

Since then, the EG Group has bought from brother food chain Leon and made a bid to add Caffe Nero to its collection of businesses.

They would also have looked at a bid to acquire Boots.

The group also owns KFC’s largest franchise and has a close working relationship with the likes of British favorite Greggs, as well as Starbucks, Krispy Kreme and Cinnabon.

The Blackburn-born brothers grew up in a terraced house after their father came to Britain to work in the textile industry.

Their woolen factory worker, father Vali, and mother Zubeda came from India to Britain “with nothing” and lived in a two-storey, two-story terraced house on Balaclava Street in Blackburn when Mohsin and Zuber were born in the early 1970s.

Their first experience in business was selling gasoline at their parent’s gas station where they would get their big idea that would revolutionize the industry and make millions.

They rented a local garage with their combined savings of £5,000 and in 2001 the brothers founded Euro Garages with one petrol station in Bury, Greater Manchester.

Gasoline sales fell and fuel excise taxes rose, reducing already razor-thin fuel margins and driving hundreds of operators out of the market.

At the time, most garages—if they sold food at all—offered a paltry selection of prepackaged sandwiches, chips, candy, and chocolate.

But the Issas realized that fuel sales still had a purpose in creating a closed market at gas stations, which could then get tasty food instead of the porridge offered elsewhere.

The brothers secured franchise deals with brands such as Starbucks, Subway and KFC before going on a bargain hunt to pick up locations that had previously fallen vacant.

TDR Capital – a London investment company behind We Buy Any Car and David Lloyd gyms – bought a 50 percent stake in EG Group in 2015. The Issas keep the remaining 50 percent.

Describing the secret to their success, Zuber told the Financial Times: ‘We wanted to create a destination where you could get fuel, food to take away and shopping.

This is the formula and it works.

“We were lucky that the big players left the market as we grew.”

In 2017, the pair bought a £25 million mansion in Knightsbridge, central London, which agents say could be worth £80 million if planned renovations are carried out.

Two years later in 2019, they owned Europe’s largest petrol station operator, formerly known as Euro Garages, which had reported sales of over £17.9 billion.

This sparked a debt-fueled buying spree that saw the brothers buy thousands of new sites and expand to 10 more countries around the world.

In 2021, the brothers bought Asda from Walmart for £6.8 billion, returning the supermarket to British control.

Mohsin and Zuber stunned the city by being named as lead bidders to acquire the retail giant alongside private equity firm TDR Capital.

They pledged to keep the retailer’s headquarters in Leeds and said they would invest to grow convenience and online business.

Walmart retained a minority interest in Asda as part of the deal.

At the time of the Asda takeover, the Issa brothers were worth an estimated £3.56bn, including a £25m Kensington mansion and a private jet kept in a hangar at Blackpool Airport alongside Donald Trump’s personal helicopter.

They’ve also developed five identical townhouses just three miles from the £115,000 Blackburn two-up two-down where they grew up.

Mohsin is expected to live there with his wife, Shamim, with whom he shares two adult children.

As proud Lancastrians, the brothers have pushed to keep EG Group’s headquarters in Blackburn, unveiling a new £35 million headquarters.

EG Group currently employs 53,854 people.

“People always ask when we move to London or Manchester,” Zuber told the FT at the time.

“But the quality of life here is great. Many people do a few years in London and then come to the North West.

“They want to start a family and have less pressure. So we have a lot of fantastic people.’

EG Group declined to comment when approached.