Majestic Wines has acquired online retailer Naked Wines in a deal totalling £70 million, the parties have announced.

The deal is designed to strengthen both companies’ offering by combining Majestic’s store network with Naked’s online and e-commerce expertise – creating a multi-channel specialist wine retailing group. Cash consideration is being funded by new debt facilities.

The total cost of the deal involves £50 million in cash, payable upon completion, and £20 million in share offerings. The senior team at Naked Wines will stay in post, also receiving 70% of their potential consideration in Majestic’s ordinary shares.

Rowan Gormley, founder and CEO of Naked Wines has been appointed as CEO of the enlarged Majestic.

Cavendish advised the management and shareholders of Naked Wines, including Naked Wine’s majority shareholder, German wine group WIV Wein International AG (“WIV”).

Naked Wines is  one of a number of previous and current E-Commerce mandates for Cavendish and follows the sales of over 65s specialist direct retailer Coopers of Stortford to Damartex and online food retailer Donald Russell to Vestey.

Other recent consumer sector transactions include the sale of Scott Dunn to Inflexion and Boardman Bikes to Halfords.

Cavendish partner Jonathan Buxton said the deal is a good fit for both parties due to “Naked Wines’ robust growth track record and Majestic’s market leading positioning”.

“The enlarged Majestic Wine Group will benefit from new CEO Rowan Gormley’s outstanding experience and industry expertise and help the business capitalise on supportive trends in the wine sector and the fast-growing e-commerce industry, both of which offer excellent growth opportunities,” he said.

“The UK’s premium wine segment is performing well as is the international direct to consumer market, with particularly strong growth in the US, a key area for the combined companies, while e-commerce is the fastest expanding retail market in Europe. The size of the UK’s e-commerce sector is forecast to increase by some 16% this year to close to £45 billion.”

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