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LONDON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - The Issa brothers' EG Group petrol
forecourt business has added to its acquisition spree by
purchasing Cooplands, Britain's second-largest bakery chain.
EG Group, owned by Zuber and Mohsin Issa and private equity
firm TDR Capital, said on Monday it has acquired CS Food Group
Holdings Limited, which trades as Cooplands.
Cooplands operates three bakeries and runs about 180 stores
and cafes, predominantly in northern England. It employs over
1,600 people and is the country's second-largest bakery chain
after Greggs.
EG bought the LEON fast food restaurant chain in May.
It said the transaction "will provide a platform to
diversify the Cooplands brand into the transient petrol
forecourt and retail convenience store channel, alongside the
bakery chain’s traditional store formats, through EG Group’s
extensive UK network."
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
The brothers and TDR completed their purchase of a majority
stake in Asda from Walmart in February in a deal valuing the
supermarket group at 6.8 billion pounds ($9.2 billion).
Then in a separate deal, EG Group agreed to buy Asda's 323
petrol forecourts for 750 million pounds. That deal is still to
complete.
Media reports have linked EG with either a trade sale or a
public listing of its shares.
($1 = 0.7361 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Kirsten Donovan and Jason
Neely)