The billionaire Issa brothers have lodged a bid to buy one of Britain’s biggest coffee shop chains, according to reports from Sky News.
Mohsin and Zuber Issa, who earlier this year took over the British arm of Asda and who have turned Lancashire-based EG into one of the UK’s biggest private companies, wrote to Caffe Nero over the weekend to propose buying the chain from its founder and controlling shareholder, Gerry Ford.
The Brother’s Mohsin, 49, and Zuber, 48, started out in a garage which their dad, who had worked in a woollen mill, before buying a garage forecourt in Bury and now alongside hundreds of forecourts the company has expanded into a range of retail property.
According to Sky News,it was unclear whether Caffe Nero had responded to the EG offer yet, or what the precise terms of the offer were.EG’s bid could force the ailing coffee shop chain to postpone the CVA vote, insiders said.
