Tesco is considering an offer for Majestic Wine Group, the UK’s largest wine retailer, which was put up for sale by its private equity owner over the summer, according to Sky News.
The supermarket group is among a number of bidders involved in the process, Sky News reported at the weekend. Tesco, Majestic and Fortress Investment Group, the American private equity firm that owns the retailer, declined to comment.
Fortress began a formal sale process several weeks ago, according to the report. It was reported earlier this year that the firm had drafted in bankers to explore a potential sale of Majestic.
How much Tesco might need to pay to win any contest for the business is unclear. Sky News said Fortress was likely to make “hundreds of millions of pounds” from the sale.
Fortress acquired Majestic in 2019, paying £95m for its stores. It subsequently separated the business from its sister company, Naked Wines, the online wine subscription company.
Earlier that year, Majestic had announced plans to close stores and concentrate on Naked Wines, which it had bought in 2015 for £70m. Naked Wines remains listed on the London Stock Exchange, where it has a market value of £41m.
The first Majestic “wine warehouse” opened in north London in 1980. The chain now has more than 210 stores across the country, through which it sells wines and beers to consumers.
Majestic also has a wholesale business that supplies hundreds of bars and restaurants with alcohol, and it owns the Vagabond chain of wine bars.
During the seven years it has been owned by Fortress, Majestic’s annual sales have increased by a third.
The company’s most recent accounts, filed at Companies House in January, cover the year to the end of March 2025. They show that Majestic generated sales of £386.2m, broadly the same as in the previous financial year, while profits almost halved to £7.8m.
The company blamed the fall in profits on higher costs as a result of “government tax and policy changes”, including the increase to the national minimum wage.
An acquisition of Majestic would push Tesco, Britain’s biggest supermarket chain, deeper into the sale of wine and spirits.
Tesco holds about 28 per cent of the UK grocery market. In April, the group reported an 8.5 per cent rise in annual pre-tax profit.
Under Ken Murphy, its chief executive, Tesco has rarely explored corporate acquisitions. It bought Paperchase, the stationery brand, out of administration in 2023.
Its last major deal was the £3.7bn takeover of Booker, the food wholesaler, in 2017. Booker remains part of the group as its cash-and-carry operation.
In the years before the Booker deal, Tesco was more interested in selling businesses. Disposals following an accounting scandal in 2014 included Dobbies, the garden centre chain, and its Harris + Hoole coffee shops.
Separately, in September, Tesco committed £20m to Bramble Partners, the fund set up by Henry Dimbleby, the co-founder of Leon, and agreed to act as its anchor partner.
Under that agreement, some of the innovations backed by Bramble will be tested in Tesco’s supply chain.
Sky News said a number of other bidders were also involved in the Majestic sale process.
