One of the best-known figures in British retailing is staging a boardroom comeback by swooping for a 10% stake in Menzies Distribution, the logistics giant.

Sky News has learnt that Charles Wilson, who spent 15 years running the wholesaler Booker, is to take a seat on the board of Menzies as part of the deal.

Mr Wilson retired from his role at Tesco, Booker’s parent company, in February, three years after the UK’s biggest retailer paid more than £3bn to buy it.

Long-seen as the natural choice to run Tesco, Mr Wilson was forced to step back from the role to battle throat cancer.

Announcing his departure from the supermarket giant last September, he said he remained in remission but acknowledged that it was “time to take things a little easier”.

Mr Wilson’s re-emergence in the logistics sector as a major shareholder in Menzies will create one of the industry’s most powerful double-acts.

Menzies, which was acquired by the private equity investor Endless in 2018, appointed the former Asda chief executive Andy Clarke as chairman in January.

The former Booker chief and Mr Clarke are understood to have become acquainted as president and deputy president respectively of IGD, the food and grocery research and training charity.

City sources said Mr Wilson’s arrival as a shareholder in Menzies signalled plans to grow the business aggressively in the coming years.

Originally part of the listed company John Menzies, the print media distributor employs more than 5000 people and operates a fleet of over 4000 vehicles.

The news distribution arm was sold for £74.5m under pressure from an activist investor, and has grown substantially since the Endless takeover, despite the coronavirus pandemic.

Insiders said that a core plank of Menzies’ strategy would be a focus on sustainability.

It now operates more than 120 zero-emission vehicles, with that number expected to grow rapidly in the next three years.

The company delivers from more than 100 sites in the UK and Ireland to 30,000 locations each day, and counts all of the major supermarket chains among its customers.

In addition to newspapers and magazines, it handles retail stock, healthcare products and provides parcel delivery services.

Last year, it struck a transformational deal by acquiring Bibby Distribution from the 200 year-old family-controlled conglomerate Bibby Line Group.

Menzies itself is one of the oldest players in the UK’s logistics sector, having been founded in 1833.

During the pandemic, it helped distribute PPE on behalf of the NHS in Scotland, and is said to plan to continue expanding its services.

It was unclear how much Mr Wilson had agreed to pay for his stake in Menzies.

Endless declined to comment on Wednesday, while Mr Wilson could not be reached for comment.

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