Mohsin and Zuber, who started their business empire with one petrol station in the Greater Manchester area in 2001, are said to be set to buy the chain, which had more than 37,000 outlets in over 100 countries in 2021.

The brothers co-own the Euro Garages firm, along with TDR Capital, which operates more than 6,600 petrol stations globally, and already has Subway outlets at 340 of its locations.

“EG Group have felt for a while that Subway treated them the same way as other franchise partners and their massive growth hadn’t been appreciated, so what better way to show who’s boss than owning them?” a source told British newspaper The Sun.

Another source told the newspaper it would “make good sense” for the brothers to complete the purchase.

The EG Group completed a £6.8 billion takeover of supermarket chain Asda in 2021 and is also KFC’s largest franchise owner in Europe.

It also owns the restaurant chain Leon and helped to launch the UK’s first drive-thru Indian street food outlet in the British town of Bolton.