Copestick Murray swoops in on Slurp
Copestick Murray, the drinks distributor and producer, has acquired a 40% stake in The Slurp Wine Company.
The purchase price of the deal, which was completed on Friday, 27 October, was not disclosed.
In a statement it said that the aim of the new partnership was “to quickly establish Slurp as one of the most successful premium wine retailers in the Uk.”
The deal saw Copestick Murray purchase the stake from wine retailer SH Jones, meaning that Slurp is now jointly owned by Copestick Murray, Richard Jones, Hugh Taylor and James Keef.
Slurp is based in Banbury and has two shops – one in Banbury and one in Leamington Spa. It has also recently launched a new website at Slurp.co.uk.
Hugh Taylor, managing director of Slurp, said that the company had gone through the first stage of a five-year plan that included launching a new website, merging hawksheadwines.co.uk and re-branding the two SH Jones shops under the Slurp umbrella.
“We were then looking for capital injection to help us scale the business and establish Slurp as a major premium online UK wine retailer,” he said.
“When we discovered that Copestick Murray were looking to enter the UK digital arena it made a lot of sense to for us to have an industry partner and particularly one as innovative and successful as Copestick Murray. With the funding now in place we are really looking to implementing our long term strategy for Slurp.”
Robin Copestick, managing director of Copestick Murray, who will sit on the board of Slurp, said the deal was part of the company strategy to become much more involved in online retailing.
“When we heard that Slurp were looking for investment it was very clear that this was an excellent opportunity for us to play a significant part in their future. I am excited to start working with Hugh and Richard and help them realise their own ambitious plans for Slurp.”
Copestick Murray’s parent company is Henkell & Co, Germany’s largest sparkling wine producer and a leading producer of wines and spirits in Europe.
It has subsidiaries in 20 countries and exports to over 100 countries worldwide.
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