Tesco is reportedly plotting a surprise bid for Majestic Wine, the specialist wine retail chain owned by private equity firm Fortress Investment Group.
The UK’s biggest retailer is among a list of bidders weighing up an offer in an auction of Majestic, according to Sky News this weekend.
If successful, an acquisition by Tesco would add 200 stores to its estate and wholesaler Enotria, Majestic’s commercial arm.
An analyst told Sky that Tesco could pursue the takeover via its Booker wholesale division.
A potential valuation for Majestic remained unclear, but the business is expected to generate hundreds of millions of pounds for Fortress.
Several other bidders are thought to be part of the auction process, but Majestic, Fortress and Tesco have not provided any comment on the potential move.
Fortress acquired Majestic for £95m in 2019, separating the wine retailer from online sister business Naked Wines, which remains a publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange.
Since buying the business, Fortress has pushed an expansion strategy of new store openings and bolt-on M&A for bar chain Vagabond and on-trade distributor Enotria.
Majestic generated sales of £386m in the year to 31 March 2025, according to the most recently available accounts. However, sales were flat and profits fell almost 50% year on year to £7.7m.
Fortress hired bankers from Rothschild earlier this year to explore its options to sell Majestic, with a formal sales process launching a few weeks ago.
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