Morrisons ups offer to bail out McColls in bid to claw chain back from Asda owning rivals

Morrisons has put forward a last-minute offer to bail out McColls in a bid to claw it out the hands of its Asda owning rivals.

Bradford headquartered supermarket chain Morrisons has improved its offer to buy McColls by vowing to pay its lenders immediately in full, Sky News first reported today.

The improved offer comes after petrol station business EG Group came close to securing its takeover of McColls, after the convenience store chain collapsed into administration on Friday.

McColls creditors reportedly favoured the offer put forward by EG Group, after the Little Chef owner vowed to repay them in full, in contrast to an initial offer put forward by Morrisons.

Morrisons, which has a far-reaching wholesale agreement to supply McColls, has vowed to keep the “vast majority” of jobs and stores, after 16,000 jobs were put at risk by the convenience chain’s bankruptcy.  

However, the lenders rejected the supermarket giant’s offer, after Morrisons said it would take on £100m worth of McColls debt, and pay lenders back when the loans expired.  

By contrast, EG Group – which was founded by the billionaire Issa brothers in 2001 through the launch of a single petrol station in Bury, Greater Manchester – vowed to immediately pay in full.

The bids come after Issa brothers became majority shareholders in Asda after purchasing a majority stake in the supermarket giant from US behemoth Walmart.