Tesco has emerged as a bidder for Majestic Wine, the specialist merchant that owner Fortress Investment Group put up for sale this year. Sky News reported the interest on 5 October. Majestic trades from more than 200 shops across the UK and Jersey, and neither company has confirmed an approach.
Fortress Investment Group bought Majestic for £95 million in 2019 and has since widened the group beyond its core shops. It acquired the wine bar chain Vagabond in April 2024 and the premium distributor Enotria & Coe in March 2025. Majestic employs more than 1,000 people, and the business has grown well beyond the single wine merchant that Fortress bought seven years ago. Fortress signalled its intention to sell in March 2026, and Rothschild & Co is running the process, with completion possible in early 2027.
What has been reported about the sale process
Sky News said Tesco is among several parties in a formal auction, and the other bidders have not been named. Retail Gazette puts the likely value at “hundreds of millions of pounds”, although no valuation has been disclosed. None of the coverage reviewed carries a Majestic turnover figure. Neither Tesco nor Majestic had commented at the time of the reports, and the sale remains a private process run by bankers rather than a public offer.
How Majestic has changed under Fortress
Under Fortress, Majestic has opened new shops and added a bar chain and a trade distributor. Harpers reports that the group has committed £4 million to improving its shop portfolio and plans four openings in 2026/27, funded from the group’s own capital rather than by operators, as happens across brands taking on partners in the UK.
John Colley, chief executive of Majestic, said the group was “continuing to invest significantly” in its growth plan. He has also said the shop expansion “underscores our confidence in the future of experiential bricks and mortar retail”.
Where Majestic could sit in Tesco’s trade business
Retail Gazette notes that Majestic’s commercial arm, which supplies hospitality venues, could align with Tesco’s Booker wholesale division. Drinks Retailing adds that a deal would be Tesco’s first major acquisition since it bought Booker for £3.7 billion in 2018, and quotes Tesco’s own commentary that “Core catering performed well with like-for-like sales growth of 3.8%”, helped by its specialist wine and spirit merchant Venus. The coverage does not describe any franchise element in the Majestic sale, and it does not say how Tesco would run the business if it won.
Good to know
Tesco’s own fascia is not franchised, but the group owns One Stop, which offers a franchise model to independent retailers, and Booker’s symbol groups such as Premier, Londis and Budgens, putting it alongside the other food and drink brands recruiting UK operators. A symbol group is a supply and fascia arrangement, and Premier says it charges no joining, membership or weekly fees. It is not a franchise.
What comes next
No bidder has confirmed an offer, and the identity of the other parties has not been reported. Drinks Business points to early 2027 as a possible completion date, which would put any deal several months away.
Majestic’s planned openings for 2026/27 continue in the meantime. Any announcement would come from the parties themselves or from Fortress, since the process is private and run by its advisers.
