The Thai retail and hotel group Central Group and the Austrian real estate company Signa Group stated on December 23 that they would jointly acquire the British luxury chain Selfridges. According to people familiar with the matter, the transaction was valued at approximately 4 billion pounds ($5.35 billion).
Central and Signa already own major department stores in Germany, Italy, Denmark and Switzerland through a joint venture, and said they have reached an agreement with this chain store famous for its Oxford Street store in London, which has been acquired by George Weston Limited. The Canadian branch of the British, Irish and Canadian billionaire Weston family was acquired in 2003 for a fairly reasonable £600 million.
Founded in 1908, the Selfridges Group has 10,000 employees and 25 stores worldwide, including Selfridges in London, Manchester and Birmingham, De Bijenkorf in the Netherlands, and Brown Thomas and Arnotts in Ireland.
Flagship Store on Oxford Street, London
Central, owned by the Thai billionaire family Chirathivat, and Signa, the company of Austrian investor Rene Benko, will take over 18 of Selfridges’ 25 stores and hope to build a luxury hotel next to the flagship store on Oxford Street. The seven department stores in Canada are not included in the package.
As a complement to the online business, the new owner’s goal is to increase the luxury department store chain’s annual sales by 8 billion euros ($9.1 billion) by 2024, of which 1 billion euros should come from online sales, which is currently about 5 billion euros.
According to sources, the conglomerate will be managed by a holding company in London and may eventually be listed on the stock exchange, while the local management of stores in other countries will remain.
Central’s retail business can be traced back to 1956
Central opened its first department store in 1956 and gradually became the owner of Thailand’s largest shopping mall with approximately 2,400 retail stores.It has an e-commerce joint venture with China’s JD.com and holds shares in Grab Holdings, a ride-hailing service in Southeast Asia
Since the acquisition of La Rinascente, an Italian high-end department store chain, for 205 million euros in 2011, the company has been operating in Europe. In 2013, it also acquired Illum, Denmark’s oldest department store, and in 2015 it acquired a majority stake in three luxury department stores in Germany from Signa.Moreover, Central and Signa jointly acquired assets such as Swiss luxury store Globus for more than 1 billion Swiss francs (1.1 billion US dollars) in 2020
Signa co-owns the Chrysler Building in New York
Benko became famous as a real estate investor. In 2019, he partnered with the real estate company RFR Holding LLC to purchase the iconic Chrysler Building in New York City for approximately $150 million.
Through his company Signa Benko, he acquired a department store in Oberpollinger, Munich, in 2011, and entered the retail property business in 2013. Alsterhaus Burger shop. In 2014, Signa acquired the German department store chain Karstadt and Berlin’s iconic high-end store Kaufhaus des Westens, or KaDeWe. The latter, like Oberpollinger and Alsterhaus, was later sold to Central.
In 2018, Signa acquired another German department store chain, Galeria Kaufhof, and merged it with Karstadt.
The iconic Selfridges store on Oxford Street, London The Thai retail and hotel group Central Group and the Austrian real estate company Signa Group stated on December 23 that they would jointly acquire the British luxury chain Selfridges. According to people familiar with the matter, the transaction was valued at approximately 4 billion pounds ($5.35 billion). Central and Signa already own major department stores in Germany, Italy, Denmark, and Switzerland through a joint venture. They stated that they have reached an agreement with this chain, which is famous for its Oxford Street store in London, which has been acquired by George Weston. (George Weston) acquisition.
The Thai retail and hotel group Central Group and the Austrian real estate company Signa Group stated on December 23 that they would jointly acquire the British luxury chain Selfridges. According to people familiar with the matter, the transaction was valued at approximately 4 billion pounds ($5.35 billion).
Central and Signa already own major department stores in Germany, Italy, Denmark and Switzerland through a joint venture, and said they have reached an agreement with this chain store famous for its Oxford Street store in London, which has been acquired by George Weston Limited. The Canadian branch of the British, Irish and Canadian billionaire Weston family was acquired in 2003 for a fairly reasonable £600 million.
Founded in 1908, the Selfridges Group has 10,000 employees and 25 stores worldwide, including Selfridges in London, Manchester and Birmingham, De Bijenkorf in the Netherlands, and Brown Thomas and Arnotts in Ireland.
Flagship Store on Oxford Street, London
Central, owned by the Thai billionaire family Chirathivat, and Signa, the company of Austrian investor Rene Benko, will take over 18 of Selfridges’ 25 stores and hope to build a luxury hotel next to the flagship store on Oxford Street. The seven department stores in Canada are not included in the package.
As a complement to the online business, the new owner’s goal is to increase the luxury department store chain’s annual sales by 8 billion euros ($9.1 billion) by 2024, of which 1 billion euros should come from online sales, which is currently about 5 billion euros.
According to sources, the conglomerate will be managed by a holding company in London and may eventually be listed on the stock exchange, while the local management of stores in other countries will remain.
Central’s retail business can be traced back to 1956
Central opened its first department store in 1956 and gradually became the owner of Thailand’s largest shopping mall with approximately 2,400 retail stores.It has an e-commerce joint venture with China’s JD.com and holds shares in Grab Holdings, a ride-hailing service in Southeast Asia
Since the acquisition of La Rinascente, an Italian high-end department store chain, for 205 million euros in 2011, the company has been operating in Europe. In 2013, it also acquired Illum, Denmark’s oldest department store, and in 2015 it acquired a majority stake in three luxury department stores in Germany from Signa.Moreover, Central and Signa jointly acquired assets such as Swiss luxury store Globus for more than 1 billion Swiss francs (1.1 billion US dollars) in 2020
Signa co-owns the Chrysler Building in New York
Benko became famous as a real estate investor. In 2019, he cooperated with the real estate company RFR Holding LLC to purchase the iconic Chrysler Building in New York City for approximately $150 million.
Through his company Signa Benko, he acquired a department store in Oberpollinger, Munich, in 2011, and entered the retail property business in 2013. Alsterhaus Burger shop. In 2014, Signa acquired the German department store chain Karstadt and Berlin’s iconic high-end store Kaufhaus des Westens, or KaDeWe. The latter, like Oberpollinger and Alsterhaus, was later sold to Central.
In 2018, Signa acquired another German department store chain, Galeria Kaufhof, and merged it with Karstadt.
