McColl's currently employs 16,000 people across its 1,100 stores. Morrisons is already in a partnership with McColl's, which operates more than 200 Morrisons Daily convenience stores.
The Issa brothers co-own supermarket chain Asda, while EG Group owns thousands of petrol stations and convenience shops in the UK, Ireland, Europe, Australia and the US.
The billionaire Issa brothers are now close to closing the deal to rescue the convenience chain McColl's when it enters administration. The company had been moving towards making more of its shops into Morrisons Daily stores, but had not moved quickly enough to take advantage in the boom in local shopping during the coronavirus pandemic. With £170mn of debt to service, the business had been running out cash.
PwC are set to become administrators for the company and it is understood to sell it to Issa brothers' EG Group. In a letter from McColl's to its employees, the firm said it hoped all staff would transfer to the new owner. Any sale could only be completed once administrators have been formally appointed. In a statement earlier, McColl's said PwC intended to look for a buyer "as soon as possible."
