A FAST-GROWING forecourt company has joined forces with one of Europe’s biggest petrol station groups.

Euro Garages, which is headquartered at the Beehive Trading Park in Blackburn, has merged with Dutch and French company European Forecourt Retail (EFR).

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The Haslingden Road business has more than 330 sites across the country and has partnerships with BP, Esso, Shell and Spar.

The firms will continue to operate under their current names but a holding company, ‘Intervias’ has been established and has its own board. The businesses would boast a combined workforce of 8,500 employees and will service more than 6million customers a week.

The new group will have a total gross annual revenues of around 6billion euros.

Mohsin Issa, Euro Garages co-founder and chief executive, said the future was looking bright for his company.

He said: “We are very excited with this great combination of best-in-class operators, gaining a further commercial insight from the unique fuel expertise of EFR.”

“We are convinced he is the right person to lead the group; he brings a wealth of retail experience and expertise to drive our future growth plans.”

The firm was named as one of the top 75 private companies in the UK last year after securing a £1.3billion private equity investment.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed no later than the end of the month. Rika Coppens, EFR’s chief executive, said: “The merger will give European consumers access to leading global retail brands on petrol forecourt locations.

“People have busy lifestyles and are now looking for destinations which offer quality products and services in convenient locations.

“It is in our DNA to offer them the best retail experience.

“We are looking forward to benefiting from Euro Garages successful brand partnership model.”

Euro Garages was founded in 2001 by brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa, with the acquisition of a filling station in Bury.

The senior management team is made up of Co-CEO Zuber Issa and Mohsin Issa, commercial director Ilyas Munshi, chief financial officer Michael Hughes and group general counsel Imraan Patel.