Morrisons looks set to clinch a deal to gain control of the McColl’s Retail Group and save thousands of jobs in the process.
The supermarket giant saw off eleventh-hour competition from EG Group, the petrol station operator, Sky News report.
The Morrisons package will see 1,100 McColl’s stores saved and 16,000 workers completely preserved.
The deal will be structured as a pre-pack administration, meaning Morrisons will buy McColl’s immediately after it enters insolvency proceedings overseen by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
When the administration process is complete it will make it the largest insolvency in the UK retail sector by size of workforce since the collapse of Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group in 2020.
On Friday, Morrisons said it believed there was no reason for the corner shop empire to be declared insolvent, but the pace of events over the weekend, with McColl’s teetering on the brink of collapse, left PwC with no time to finalise a solvent transaction, according to an insider close to the firm.
An improved offer to McColl’s lenders that would see them repaid immediately in full, satisfying their principal demand, was also among the decisive factors.
Morrisons’ status as a major creditor of McColl’s is also understood to have been influential.
An announcement is expected to be made by PwC later on Monday.
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