Receivers for Warrington-based drinks-to-groceries retailer Cellar 5 are close to selling the first batch of stores as a going concern.
Cellar 5 owns Booze Buster, Wine Cellar and Right Choice.
Les Ross of Grant Thornton in Manchester said that a sale to an undisclosed trade buyer was “imminent”.
If successful, the deal would see around 60 Booze Buster outlets off-loaded from the group’s total of 300 stores across Merseyside, Manchester and Sunderland.
Ross said that the remaining stores would be broken into substantial chunks to be sold as going concerns where possible.
Cellar 5 went into receivership in December after buckling under the double pressure of price cuts by supermarkets and the £60m debt of a management buyout from Greenall Whitely in 1997.
EGi News 13/01/03
