Threshers and Oddbins discuss potential merger

Threshers and Oddbins are understood to have held talks about a possible merger after the owners of the two chains met to discuss a potential deal last week. The meeting has been described as in very early stages.

The reported talks come as Britain’s off-licence chains face an increasingly competitive environment, with major supermarkets stealing a significant market share with a much cheaper offering.

Threshers was bought by private equity group Vision Capital earlier this year and is run by former Goldman Sachs banker Julian Mash. Mash bought it from City dealmaker Edmund Truell just two weeks after Truell bought it from Terra Firma, the private equity group led by Guy Hands. Oddbins is owned by Castel Freres, one of France’s largest privately-owned wine companies.

†