Oddbins administrators ‘close to deal’

The administrators in charge of Oddbins are confident a deal will be finalised for the chain by the end of this week.

Lee Manning, one of the two partners at administrators Deloitte, told Decanter.com he is ‘close’ to concluding negotiations for the 89 Oddbins shops.

The chain went into administration at the end of last month with debts of £20m.

‘We are at contract stage now and close to having deals done,’ Manning said.

He would not give details of the bidders but confirmed that at the end of last week there were three or four serious offers on the table, which had been reduced to one or two.

It is not know whether the Oddbins portfolio will be sold as a whole, or split up, perhaps regionally.

It is understood that current Oddbins directors Simon Baile and Henry Young, who were reported to have been bidding to buy the chain back, have been unsuccessful.

Regional and area sales managers were informed on Friday that the Baile-Young bid had failed.

In a separate development Christie & Co, an estate agent in the hotel and leisure sector, advertised 55 ex-Oddbins shops for sale yesterday.

These include the 39 closed in March plus another 16 that have been closed recently.

Christie & Co is inviting bids with a closing date of Monday 2 May.

Written by Jim Budd