Asian Rich List 5151 Zuber & Mohsin Issa Petrol forecourts £86m p£2m EURO GARAGES, the company brothers Zu- ber and Issa set up little more than 11 years ago, has performed beyond all expectations. They took control of a crumbling petrol sta- tion in Bury, inspired by their father who had worked at one, and began an unlikely innova- tion at the time. They put a shop in it. It proved to be a masterstroke. The pair brought a revolution to our fore- courts, and did it mainly in the north, where they revived petrol stations seemingly head- ing for some other form of development. This February, Euro Garages picked up 45 Esso petrol stations and increased their cover- age area in England and Wales to 120. They al- ready has deals with Subway, Burger King and Starbucks, and opened 25 drive-through out- lets bearing the global coffee chains’ brand. Revenues at Euro Garages rose to £314 mil- lion for the year ending July 2012, delivering an EBITDA of £11.2m. The group has a strong freehold asset base, and taking debt into con- sideration, we value the Issa brothers at £86m. 5252 Kirti Patel Pharmaceuticals £85m p£10m KIRTI PATEL is one of a group of entrepre- neurs who helped to put Goldshield Group plc on the pharmacy map. He, along with three partners, helped to set up Goldshield in 1989, and they built it up to become an international speciality pharma- ceutical company selling niche prescription drugs and associated retail products. Patel had a background in the trade: he had qualified as a pharmacist in 1983, and ran his first retail premises just a year later. In 2009, under takeover pressure, Kirti and other partners Rakesh Patel and Ajay Patel (no relation) fought off an Israeli bid backed by former Goldshield CEO Ajit Patel. Supported by private equity cash, the firm came through with Patel still retaining an interest but no longer involved in the day- to-day running of Goldshield. The new business divested of its non-pharmacy business and prepared for a leaner, more focused future. It re- branded under the Mercury Pharma name. Last August, HgCapital, the Patel’s private equity partner, sold up to Cinven, another private equity house with a strong pres- ence in healthcare, for £465 million. With the sale of Kirti’s shares, we increase his value to Kirti £85m this year. Patel Captain Cook 53= Tony Deep Wourha Food/wholesaling £80mp£6m IT WAS a sign of how far Tony Deep Wourha had come when prime minister David Cam- eron, on his recent trip to India, was seen with the tycoon at a rice milling operation in Punjab that bore the East End emblem. Like many in the food sector, the story of Wourha and his firm of East End foods is also one and the same ab- out the nation finding its spice buds. Based in West Bromwich, it was 35 years ago that the com- pany was formed, ostensibly to serve up common spices and foods that could be found in any Asian household kitchen up and down the land. It was also very much inspired by the ex- ample of the Wourhas’ father, who had told them they should only sell food they were prepared to consume themselves. That was how it all started. Now fast for- ward to 2013 and you’ll see the East End, along with several others, have come a long way from the margins into the mainstream. Wourha came to Britain aged 19 in 1961 with the heartache and suffering of Partition casting a long shadow. The family moved from Pakistan to India and had to grapple with the loss of their wealth. If anything it taught the young Wourha re- silience and led him to become a door-to- door egg salesman who worked around Wol- verhampton during the evenings and week- ends as he studied at college. “I was young, I didn’t have a business plan or anything, but I wanted to do something with my life, I wanted to build a business and give the family some standing,” he told the Asian Rich List. It was there that Tony Deep was born, adapting it from Kuldip, and the embryo for his present business was born. He graduated to a shop, helped by an elder brother who joined him in 1967, and then the family moved into wholesaling, providing both inde- pendent stores and supermarkets with a range of products. “We saw a gap in the supply of Asian food that was availa- ble. What was available was real awful quality. We felt that needed improv- ing and worked on the quality,” he explained. It proved highly ef- fective, and in 1972 they opened their first cash and carry store in Wolverhampton, graduating to a 40,000 sq ft premises in 1980 and adding non ethnic lines to their stock. Today, there are 320 employees and 1,250 lines, and these are increasingly sourced from around the world. Wourha is a champion for healthy Indian cooking and a newly refurbished website pro- motes recipes and tips. The company’s state- of-the-art HQ and cash and carry depot in West Bromwich will one day house an urban farm, where the organic Wourha way will be practised and not just preached. His commitment to healthy cooking ex- tended to creating Purity in Food that contin- ues to help some 250,000 small farmers in India deliver organic produce. In 2010, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Bir- mingham City University for his business achievements, ten years after his MBE for services to the food industry. Though not involved in a day-to-day way in the business any more, Wourha remains the ambassador, one of the focal points and a guiding presence. There are now 15 members of the family involved in the business. It was another good year for the family with revenues rising to £146 million and oper- ating profit at £5m. Taking into account other assets and wealth, we value them at £80m. ‘I wanted to do something with my life’ Tony Deep Wourha March 2013 | Eastern Eye Asian Rich List | 59