UK wine merchants change hands

On Friday London fine wine merchant Armit (one of those annoying companies that styles itself in nothing but lower case letters) sold 75% of its shares to the Dutch wholesale group Baarsma, whose focus until now has been much lower down the wine quality scale and has businesses in Benelux, France and Switzerland. John Armit, 69 (pictured in typically moody shot for one of his thick wine lists here), founded Armit on the rebound from Corney & Barrow, where until 1981 he had been the managing director and hugely well-connected buyer. The Notting Hill wine merchant, which sells only...