In the next couple of weeks, the six venture capital groups who have tabled indicative bids for Pernod Ricard's BWG cash and carry operations and convenience store operation will be whittled down to three.

As things stand, all six that had put forward proposals by the initial August 17th deadline are British venture capital houses, although it is not clear whether Leo Crawford and his management are involved with any particular bidder.

Pernod Ricard and advisers Schroder Salomon Smith Barney have never said who the bidders are but they are generally accepted to include Hg (the ridiculously named former Mercury Private Equity), Legal & General Ventures, Candover, Alchemy, Royal Bank Private Equity and Electra Partners.

Pernod has said that BWG will be sold as a single unit but what happens after that is a different matter. It is perfectly possible that BWG under its new ownership will be split between its Spar/Mace convenience stores business in the Republic and Britain, and the Bargain Booze off-licence chain in Britain.