Fortress closes in on £100m Majestic Wine deal

Fortress Investment Group has emerged as the frontrunner to snap up the 200-store Majestic business following weeks of talks.

The bidding war for the retailer was sparked after its parent company revealed plans to radically shift its strategy and focus solely on its Naked Wines ecommerce division.

Fortress has moved to the front of the queue ahead of a string of other interested parties including Waterstones owner Elliot Advisors and OpCapita, which previously owned Comet, Sky News reports.

Former Tesco executive Jago is reported to have been approached by Fortress and other rival bidders about running the business following the sale process.

Jago, who stepped down from wine merchant Berry Bros. & Rudd in January, previously headed up Tesco’s beers, wines and spirits department and also spent time as joint managing director of drinks supplier Bibendum.

Majestic Wine revealed in March that it was ditching its bricks-and-mortar business and changing its name to Naked Wines Plc.

Boss Rowan Gormley said the move would allow the management team to focus its time on accelerating growth in Naked, which is growing at a much quicker rate than Majestic.

Gormley founded the Naked business in 2008 and it was bought by Majestic in 2015.

Naked has more than doubled in size since then. The etailer’s sales jumped 14.5% to £178.4m in the year to April 1. Revenues at Majestic’s retail division advanced 1.9% up to £267.7m over the same 12-month period.

Despite the top-line growth, the group swung to a pre-tax loss of £8.5m as customer acquisition costs took their toll on profitability.

Both Majestic Wine and Rothschild, which is running the sale process, declined to comment.