A woman takes off her face mask as she carries Selfridges bags after leaving the department store in London, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Alastair Grant
December 24, 2021 - 5:55 AM
TORONTO - The billionaire Weston family is selling its luxury British department store chain Selfridges to Thailand's Central Group and Austrian real estate group Signa.
The deal, confirmed Friday by Central Group, is reportedly worth 4 billion pounds, or about C$6.87 billion.
Central already owns up-market retailers including Rinascente in Italy, Illum in Denmark, Switzerland’s Globus and The KaDeWe Group in Germany.
W. Galen Weston acquired Selfridges in 2003 and combined it with other luxury retailers into the Selfridges Group in 2010.
The company, which now owns 18 department stores, was offered for sale after Weston passed away in April.
His daughter, Alannah Weston, who is chair of Selfridges Group, said in a statement that the sale was the “successful realization of my father’s vision for an iconic group of beautiful, truly experiential, department stores."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 24, 2021.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2021