The billionaire Weston family, owners of the luxury department store, are in discussions with Qatar about a potential £4bn sale that would see Selfridges change hands for the first time in 20 years.
The current Selfridges’ owners launched an auction for the luxury department store in July, after a difficult year that saw its four locations forced to close for several months. The group currently operate four Selfridges stores across the UK – in London, Birmingham and Manchester, where there are two locations.
Funds linked to Qatar have now taken the lead in the race to acquire Selfridges and the potential deal would see Qatar take ownership of a second London department store. It purchased Harrods in 2010 through its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). Other sovereign wealth funds rumoured to be interested in buying Selfridges include Saudi Arabia.
It is believed that the deal would see Qatar only acquire the Selfridges department stores, potentially excluding the group’s Irish Brown Thomas and Arnotts stores, Holt Renfrew in Canada and de Bijenkorf in the Netherlands, all of which are owned by the Weston family.
