The Weston family, the owners of Selfridges, announced that it launched a formal auction to sell the historic department store. It is understood that advisers at Credit Suisse will start looking for a buyer, with the company valued at as much as £4 billion. Even though no formal bid has been opened, but a small number of parties have already expressed interest with sovereign wealth funds of Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and Qatar all named possible bidders alongside Hong Kong’s Lane Crawford. The Qataris already own Selfridges’ arch rival Harrod’s, which was bought from Mohamed Al Fayed in 2010 for £1.5 billion, and both stores are popular with Middle Eastern shoppers.
Selfridge’s 25 outlets worldwide, including its flagship Oxford Street store and Birmingham site within the Bullring. The firm was founded in 1908 but has been controlled by the Weston family since 2003, who took it private in a fiercely fought £600 million takeover. The deal was led by W Galen Weston, who died in April aged 80 having stepped down chairman of Selfridges Group two years earlier to make way for his daughter Alannah Weston.
