The billionaire brothers behind Asda's £6.8billion takeover are tipped to buy one of Germany's biggest petrol chains for an eye-watering sum.
EG Group, owned by Zuber and Mohsin Issa, have placed a £440million bid for 285 forecourts in Germany.
The move will extend the company's 6,000-strong forecourt empire across the UK and Europe.
EG said the new outlets in Southern Germany, which it is buying from OMV Deutschland, would expand its presence in that country.
It already operates sites there under the Esso fuel brand.
EG was founded by the Issa brothers in 2001, initially called Euro Garages and expanding out from a single site in Bury, Greater Manchester.
In October, it agreed to buy Asda in a deal that valued the UK's third largest supermarket chain at £6.8billion.
The deal is currently being probed by the UK's competition watchdog but if granted the go-ahead, it would see Asda's majority stake sold by Walmart, its American owner.
Get the latest money advice, news and help straight to your inbox - sign up at mirror.co.uk/email
The brothers last month also moved to buy coffee chain Caffe Nero, although the offer was quickly rejected.
Earlier this year, questions were raised about the company's finances after EG Group's auditor, Deloitte, suddenly quit in October and was replaced by KPMG.
EG Group said the auditor had signed a "clean audit" for EG Group's 2019 financial accounts and there had been "no disagreements on any auditing or accounting matters".
