Thailand’s Central Group, Austria’s Signa acquire UK luxury retail store chain
Thai retail and hospitality conglomerate Central Group and Austrian property investment company Signa Group said on December 23 that they would jointly acquire UK luxury store chain Selfridges in a deal that a source close to the matter said was valued at around £4 billion ($5.35 billion).
Central and Signa, which through management joint ventures already own major department stores in Germany, Italy, Denmark and Switzerland, said they had struck a deal for the UK chain – best known for its iconic Oxford Street store in London – which has been bought by George Weston Limited, the Canadian wing of British, Irish and Canadian billionaire Weston family, for comparably reasonable £600 million in 2003.
Founded in 1908, the Selfridges Group employs 10,000 people and owns 25 stores worldwide, including Selfridges in London, Manchester and Birmingham, De Bijenkorf in the Netherlands, as well as Brown Thomas and Arnotts in Ireland.
Oxford Street store to be expanded with luxury hotel
Central, which is owned by Thai billionaire family Chirathivat, and Signa, a company of Austrian investor Rene Benko, would take over 18 of the 25 Selfridges stores and plan to build a luxury hotel alongside the Oxford Street flagship. Seven department stores in Canada were not part of the package.
Complemented by an online business, the new owners aim to increase the luxury department store chain’s annual sales to €8 billion ($9.1 billion) by 2024 from currently around €5 billion. Around €1 billion should come from online sales by then.
The conglomerate will be managed from a holding company in London, with the potential for an eventual stock exchange listing, while local management of the stores in other countries will remain, according to sources.
Central’s retail business dates back to 1956
Central opened its first department store in 1956 in Thailand, growing to become the country’s largest mall owner with about 2,400 retail stores. It has an e-commerce joint venture with China’s JD.com and stakes in Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm Grab Holdings.
The company has been present in Europe since 2011 when it bought upmarket Italian department store chain La Rinascente for €205 million. In 2013, it also acquired Illum, Denmark’s oldest department store, and in 2015 Central bought majority stakes in three luxury department stores in Germany from Signa. Moreover, Central and Signa in 2020 jointly bought Swiss luxury store Globus and other assets for more than CHF1 billion ($1.1 billion)
Signa co-owns New York’s Chrysler Building
Benko made a name for himself as a property investor. He bought the iconic Chrysler Building in New York City in partnership with property firm RFR Holding for about $150 million in 2019.
Through his company Signa, Benko entered the retail property business in 2011 by buying a department store in Munich, Oberpollinger, and in 2013 the Alsterhaus store in Hamburg. In 2014, Signa acquired German department store chain Karstadt and Berlin’s iconic upmarket store Kaufhaus des Westens, or KaDeWe. A majority in the latter, as well as majorities in Oberpollinger and Alsterhaus, were later sold to Central.
In 2018, Signa acquired another German department store chain, Galeria Kaufhof, and merged it with Karstadt.
[caption id="attachment_37958" align="alignleft" width="300"] Selfridges iconic store on London's Oxford Street[/caption] Thai retail and hospitality conglomerate Central Group and Austrian property investment company Signa Group said on December 23 that they would jointly acquire UK luxury store chain Selfridges in a deal that a source close to the matter said was valued at around £4 billion ($5.35 billion). Central and Signa, which through management joint ventures already own major department stores in Germany, Italy, Denmark and Switzerland, said they had struck a deal for the UK chain - best known for its iconic Oxford Street store in London - which...
Thai retail and hospitality conglomerate Central Group and Austrian property investment company Signa Group said on December 23 that they would jointly acquire UK luxury store chain Selfridges in a deal that a source close to the matter said was valued at around £4 billion ($5.35 billion).
Central and Signa, which through management joint ventures already own major department stores in Germany, Italy, Denmark and Switzerland, said they had struck a deal for the UK chain – best known for its iconic Oxford Street store in London – which has been bought by George Weston Limited, the Canadian wing of British, Irish and Canadian billionaire Weston family, for comparably reasonable £600 million in 2003.
Founded in 1908, the Selfridges Group employs 10,000 people and owns 25 stores worldwide, including Selfridges in London, Manchester and Birmingham, De Bijenkorf in the Netherlands, as well as Brown Thomas and Arnotts in Ireland.
Oxford Street store to be expanded with luxury hotel
Central, which is owned by Thai billionaire family Chirathivat, and Signa, a company of Austrian investor Rene Benko, would take over 18 of the 25 Selfridges stores and plan to build a luxury hotel alongside the Oxford Street flagship. Seven department stores in Canada were not part of the package.
Complemented by an online business, the new owners aim to increase the luxury department store chain’s annual sales to €8 billion ($9.1 billion) by 2024 from currently around €5 billion. Around €1 billion should come from online sales by then.
The conglomerate will be managed from a holding company in London, with the potential for an eventual stock exchange listing, while local management of the stores in other countries will remain, according to sources.
Central’s retail business dates back to 1956
Central opened its first department store in 1956 in Thailand, growing to become the country’s largest mall owner with about 2,400 retail stores. It has an e-commerce joint venture with China’s JD.com and stakes in Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm Grab Holdings.
The company has been present in Europe since 2011 when it bought upmarket Italian department store chain La Rinascente for €205 million. In 2013, it also acquired Illum, Denmark’s oldest department store, and in 2015 Central bought majority stakes in three luxury department stores in Germany from Signa. Moreover, Central and Signa in 2020 jointly bought Swiss luxury store Globus and other assets for more than CHF1 billion ($1.1 billion)
Signa co-owns New York’s Chrysler Building
Benko made a name for himself as a property investor. He bought the iconic Chrysler Building in New York City in partnership with property firm RFR Holding for about $150 million in 2019.
Through his company Signa, Benko entered the retail property business in 2011 by buying a department store in Munich, Oberpollinger, and in 2013 the Alsterhaus store in Hamburg. In 2014, Signa acquired German department store chain Karstadt and Berlin’s iconic upmarket store Kaufhaus des Westens, or KaDeWe. A majority in the latter, as well as majorities in Oberpollinger and Alsterhaus, were later sold to Central.
In 2018, Signa acquired another German department store chain, Galeria Kaufhof, and merged it with Karstadt.
