Naked Wines shareholders have rubber-stamped plans to sell the Majestic Wine business to US private equity firm Fortress.
Investors voted unanimously in favour of the move at a general meeting this afternoon, with 99.86% of Naked’s shareholder base approving the deal.
It comes a month after Naked revealed it had struck an agreement with Fortress for an undisclosed sum, as boss Rowan Gormley refocuses its strategy to focus on cracking the lucrative US market.
Fortress said at the time that the acquisition offered the investment firm “a great opportunity to enter UK retail”.
Majestic’s new owner immediately drafted in former Tesco beers, wines and spirits director Robert Cooke as buying and merchandising director, and vowed to kick off a full range review.
Fortress also plans to refurbish its store estate and has launched a new service called Wineify to help customers find the right wine for their needs.
Three weeks ago, it emerged that Fortress had lured back Majestic’s former boss John Colley from DIY giant Kingfisher to help steer its growth plan for the business.
Colley has quit as chief trading officer at the B&Q and Screwfix owner in order to return to the business he led between August 2015 and July 2017.
Majestic made underlying earnings of £11.3m on sales on £267.6m in the year to April.
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