Inside the property, land and big High Street brands snapped up by the billionaire Issa brothers

Billionaire business giants the Issa brothers have gone from success to success in recent years.

The duo, who got their start after purchasing a petrol station in Bury, were involved in a £6.8bn deal to buy Asda last year and recently took control of the UK’s second largest bakery business.

They also run EG Group, the company responsible for a huge network of petrol stations across the country.

READ MORE:Billionaire Issa brothers sell off 27 petrol stations in huge £6.8bn Asda deal

In fact, the business has been so successful that it brought in a total revenue of $11.839bn in the first half of its financial year, an increase of 20.2 per cent from $9.852bn.

But, with Mohsin and Zuber continuing to expand their empire, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with everything they now own.

Below, we’ve done our best to compile a list of all the businesses, land and property deals completed by the Blackburn-based brothers.

EG Group

EG Group, which runs Euro Garages petrol station sites around the country, has been a major success for the Issas.

The firm started with the purchase of a single filling station in Brandlesholme Road, Bury. When Mohsin and Zuber purchased the run-down garage back in 2001, there was little to distinguish it from so many others up and down the country.

But its new owners possessed big dreams and a vision.

Two decades on, EG Group boasts a massive portfolio of around 6,000 locations across ten countries, as well as various fast food brands including Greggs, Starbucks and KFC.

It now employs 44,000 people and is valued at around £10.8billion.

As part of the deal to buy Asda, EG had to divest 27 of its stations in the UK as part of an agreement with the Competitions and Markets Authority.

Leon

Fast food firm Leon, which describes itself as providing healthy products and ‘naturally fast food’, cut a deal with EG Group in April of this year.

The Issa’s petrol station company bought 70 restaurants across the UK and Europe.

The £100m deal led EG to announce plans for drive-thru restaurants in locations around the country.

Leon announced it would open the ‘first of many’ of these sites in West Yorkshire this autumn.

Asda

Asda returned to UK ownership for the first time in two decades when a major stake in the giant supermarket chain was taken over by the Issas and private equity firm TDR Capital.

The deal cost around £6.8bn and was a major change for Asda, last purchased by Walmart for £6.7bn in 1999.

Speaking after the deal in October 2020, Zuber said: “We grew (EG) from nothing.

“We’ve been on the pumps, we’ve been stocking the shelves, cleaning the toilets. You do everything.

“And once you do the foundation work, it’s no different wherever you go in the world. It’s a petrol station; you’re selling fuel, you’re selling coffee, you’re selling convenience.”

Cooplands

Adding to their portfolio, the Issas have now taken control of one of the UK’s biggest bakery companies.

The EG Group acquired Cooplands, which employs more than 1,600 people, this month (October).

It was founded way back in 1885 by Frederick and Alice Coopland.

CS Food Group Holdings, which is behind Cooplands, owns three bakeries that process ingredients and manufacture fresh food.

This is then distributed to around 180 stores and cafes – which are mostly in the North East and Yorkshire.

Castore

The Issas have taken a major stake in sportswear firm Castore.

It’s understood hundreds of jobs could be created in the next 24 months after the move.

Mohsin and Zuber Issa are believed to have first ploughed money into the brand in March 2020, through their Jersey-based Monte Group, the Times reported.

The deal could see the company’s HQ moved from Liverpool to Manchester.

Land and property assets

The brothers splashed out £25m on a Grade II listed Georgian townhouse in Kensington, Central London, in 2017, which is now being converted into a luxury home.

But they have not forgotten their Lancashire roots. The pair still live in Blackburn and are building five mansions for them and their relatives just ten minutes’ drive from the terraced house they grew up in.

Last year, Euro Garages moved into a new £35m headquarters opened across the road from their old base in Blackburn.

The four-story building has up to 130,000 square feet of space and boasts views over the nearby Fishmoor Reservoir.

The brothers have also invested £100m into the Frontier Park business estate on the outskirts of their hometown via their investment firm Monte Blackburn Ltd.

The site is home to KFC, Greggs, Spar and Starbucks outlets, although its centrepiece is a Hampton by Hilton hotel with a conference and banqueting centre.

But it is the not the only hotel the brothers have a stake in. They also own Stanley House, a hotel in the Ribble Valley.

Last December, the Issas revealed plans for multi-million pound renovations of the Grade II listed hotel in Mellor.

If approved, the proposals would see an additional 70 more rooms, a ‘new spa and leisure complex’ adding to existing spa facilities by almost 3,000 sq ft, a ‘banquet hall’, ‘extensions to the restaurant and the hotel entrance’, and adding more than 200 spaces to the car park.

The banquet hall would make way for weddings and events, complete with outdoor garden space, while the spa and leisure facilities would be for the use of hotel guests and club members.

Initially built as a manor house with an accompanying country park, Stanley House is rich in history and dates back to the 17th century.

In the 2000s, the house became a hotel and quickly became one of Lancashire’s most desirable venues.

Monte gained ownership of the hotel in 2020 and has stated its intention of making the venue a ‘five star facility’ with the new additions.

The Issa’s ever-growing property portfolio even includes religious buildings.

Earlier this year, the brothers were given approval to build a ‘landmark’ mosque in Blackburn.

The £5million scheme for a place of Islamic worship and community centre was approved earlier this year.

However, the proposals faced objections over the height of its minarets and potential noise.

Blackburn with Darwen Council approved the project on the site of a former school, which will be demolished, after the Issa Foundation agreed to meet 21 conditions.

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